1912 J Wright, Morning Awakening and Even-Song. 307 



MORNING AWAKENING AND EVEN-SONG.^ 



BY HORACE W. WRIGHT. 



At my summer home at Jefferson Highland in the White Moun- 

 tains, New Hampshire, I have been interested in obtaining, as 

 nearly as careful and systematic effort would enable me to do, the 

 order and manner in which the summer-resident birds within 

 range of hearing awake and \'oice themselves. Already some 

 general impressions that the birds of certain species sang earlier 

 than those of certain other species had been received, but it seemed 

 to be worth while to obtain some exact records and learn whether 

 there were definite and distinctive habits belonging to the com- 

 mon birds in regard to the time when they begin to sing. It was 

 resolved, therefore, to procure a series of early morning records 

 for comparison, and fifteen such records are now possessed, obtained 

 on May 27 and June 2, 1902; June 8 and 28, 1903; June 11 and 16 

 and July 5 and 9, 1904; June 10, 1905; July 9, 1906; July 4, 1908; 

 June 27, 1909; July 4, 1910; and June 28 and July 4, 1911. The 

 range of date is nearly equidistant before and after the summer 

 solstice. The variation in time of sunrise for thirteen of the records 

 is but five minutes, the earliest sunrise, 4.02 o'clock, occurring 

 midway within the dates of these thirteen records. The two other 

 records extend to a variation of nine minutes in the time of sunrise. 

 These variations affect but slightly the resulting averages of time 

 derived from the series and have no effect to alter the relative 

 places of the species in the order of their awakening. So they 

 have been regarded as negligible. This period of the season was 

 chosen, because it is the time when the birds in general are singing 

 most freely and are definitely located for nesting. 



That the first bird-note of the morning might be chronicled and 

 assurance be had that the earliest had been heard, position has 

 usually been taken fifteen or twenty minutes previous, as the 

 experience of the first two or three occasions indicated the time to 

 be. This has been done from 2.35 to 2.50 o'clock. The position 



1 Read before the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Cambridge, Mass., April 1, 1912. 



