XV 

 AUTUMN BIRD LIFE 



loth October. 



T OCCASIONALLY, hear nearly every resident 

 *! bird break out into some suggestion of its 

 spring song. A few seem to be nearer the singing 

 point than others, but the rest only need a suffi- 

 ciently strong incitement. A gush of warm sun- 

 shine, or even a spell of mild, though dull weather, 

 will cause even the most silent, and unresponsive to 

 forget that it is the silent season, and ignore the 

 many snowstorms yet to be passed through before 

 the days of song come back. Under ordinary 

 conditions, however, I find the list of birds that 

 sing, with any measure of regularity, between 

 August and February, to be a very short one. 



The accepted explanation of the bird's song is 

 that it belongs to the breeding season, which may 

 be roughly said to extend from February to July. 



" The male sings to charm and win his mate," says 

 16 



