ISO Moore, The Fox Sparrow as a Songster. [ April 



and forth, allowing plenty of time for pause and effect. Soon a 

 third bird seized ;t moment of silence and turned the duo into a 

 three-cornered affair and once I noted four rusty-coats shooting 

 up their songs alternately like so many rockets from as many hills. 

 This was not a single instance, but the customary way in which 

 after an intermission song was resumed. Of course 1 do not mean 

 to assert that Fox Sparrows are always so decorous and never 

 interrupt each other, for they do at times during the day and more 

 often at sunset, when there are too many songsters tor each to be 

 respectful. Even then the singing is not chorus fashion, for the 

 tendency toward alternation is still preserved, though one bird 

 often begins before another has finished. What 1 wish to state 

 is this, that each Fox Sparrow is influenced by all others of his 

 kind within hearing, that he certainly listens to their performance, 

 and that this habit of listening has tended to produce an alterna- 

 tion of song, which generally results in the antiphonal effect of 

 answer and reply. 



That this influence is something more than mere accident or 

 Sentiment, is brought to light when the songs are studied from a 

 musical standpoint. Records 2, .'>, 1, 5 and the fragment 1 were 

 sung from the hills surrounding one \ alley near Grosse Isle l>y five 

 different birds. No two of these were more than a third of a mile 

 from each other and therefore, if birds have even as good ears as 

 man, within easy hearing distance. Three of their songs, NTos. I 1 . 

 '_' and 3, were secured the same afternoon, when these three birds 

 were taking part in an alternating trio, during which each bird 

 sang, listened and waited his turn. On other afternoons the 

 authors o^i songs 1 and 5, were heard answering each other for 

 long periods of time and on still others No. 5 answered members 

 of the first trio. Now the interesting fact is this, that all five o( 

 these songs arc in the same key, D6, and three of them use pre- 

 cisely the same sounds for their three most important notes, those 

 marked by brackets. This phrase, as will be shown later, is the 

 backbone of every song, its loudest portion, and therefore being 



1 This phrase was only a small portion of the song, the rest of which could not 

 be obtained on account of the bird's shyness. However it was tin- most Impor- 

 tant part ami. as it is identical with the similar portions oi" Nos. 2 and 5, it seemed 

 worths of Insertion. 



