310 Wright, Morning Awakening and Even-Song. [july 



tinuing to sing there. On two other occasions, two years apart, 

 a Chippy which had evidently spent the night in this maple by the 

 gate dropped down onto the gate-post at 3.43 and 3.49 respectively. 

 Barn Swallows have passed singing at 3.32 and 4 o'clock. A Robin 

 was once seen to fly at 3.35 from one roadside maple to another. 

 A Hummingbird once flew b}^ at 3.52 and on another occasion was 

 seen hovering among apple blossoms at 4 o'clock. The earliest 

 Crow on the wing was seen at 3.53 and on another occasion at 4 

 o'clock. Two Cedar Waxwings once flew forth and about at 3.56 

 o'clock. The earliest Phoebe in flight dropped into the road at 

 4 o'clock. By 4.15, or directly after sunrise, there is general move- 

 ment and activity. By that time most of the usual birds in the 

 neighborhood have sung, and some have already finished their 

 welcome to the day and are busily seeking their food. 



On the fifteen occasions forty-six species which had spent the 

 night near by have been recorded. Thirty-four of these were 

 heard on many or several occasions, and twelve on one or two occa- 

 sions only. The records of the latter class, however, are definite 

 and, perhaps, of not inferior value. They represent species usually 

 beyond the range of hearing yet on the single occasion or two 

 located near. On three of the occasions nineteen or twenty species 

 only contributed to the concert, but on five others twent^^-nine or 

 thirty different voices were heard. 



Mornings that were calm and of about normal temperature were 

 chosen. But twice the temperature was as low as 46° and 52° 

 and once as high as 76°, namely, on the morning of July 4, 1911, 

 a new maximum night record. Several mornings were clouded, 

 however, the cloudiness increasing and two or three times culmi- 

 nating in rain a half-hour or so before the usual time of closing 

 the record. Under these conditions some later voices naturally 

 failed. Thus on July 4, 1910, a few drops of rain fell at 4 o'clock; 

 at 4.23 there was a distant roll of thunder and a storm-cloud was 

 seen to fill the western sky; at 4.35 it became very dark, and a 

 few minutes later wind and rain had come. In ten minutes more 

 the force of these had passed, but a gentle rain continued. Every 

 voice had been stilled by the brief tempest, and when its noise had 

 subsided not a note was heard. Five minutes later a Song Sparrow 

 sang. Twenty species only had voiced themselves before the rain. 



