Wayside Observations 141 



Have you ever noticed the tentative efforts of the 

 robins in the early spring, at the beginning of the song 

 season, before they get their harps in full tune? It is 

 interesting and amusing to listen to their rehearsals, of 

 which they need quite a number before they acquire 

 full control of their voices. This is the method: Starting 

 off on a tune, they will keep it up until their voices break ; 

 then they will stop a while to recover breath, and pres- 

 ently make another attempt with perhaps slightly better 

 success. At first they are able to pipe only a syllable 

 or two before their voices break. After a while they 

 succeed in carrying the tune for a respectable little run, 

 but sooner or later their voices will go all to pieces or 

 slide up into a falsetto, making another pause necessary. 

 By and by, however, after much practice, they gain per- 

 fect vocal control, and are able to sustain their songs for 

 a long time without a mishap. When the voice of the 

 rehearsing bird breaks, it apparently runs too high in the 

 scale for the bird's register, just as the voice of a sixteen- 

 year-old boy is apt to do, to his own confusion and the 

 amusement of his friends. 



Another fact about robin music may be of interest 

 to those who have not observed it. In the early spring 

 these birds are extremely lyrical, that being their season 

 of courtship ; then will follow a few weeks of comparative 

 silence the time when there are little ones in need of 

 parental care. At this period the husbands, it would 

 seem, are either too busy or too wary to sing a great deal. 

 But now note: When the youngsters have flown from 



