iSS4.] BiCKNRi.l. on the Sitigiiig of Birds. ^ZS 



Parus atricapillus. Black-capped Chickadee. 



My data on the vocalization of this bird are not sufficiently full 

 to enable me to determine whether any of its notes pertain exclu- 

 sively to a particular time of the year. The ordinary notes, 

 which have conferred the name 'Chick-a-dee,' are, how^ever, 

 characteristic of no season, but may be heard through every 

 month. Another vocal attribute of the species is a clear, double- 

 syllabled whistle. This suggests the song of the Wood Pewee, 

 but there is no true similarity between the notes of the two birds. 

 I have no record of having heard these notes of the Chickadee 

 in the late fall, or in the winter before the vernal influence had 

 begun to assert itself. From such time onward, into and often 

 through the summer, the whistling notes may be occasionally 

 heard, but they seem never to be very constantly uttered through 

 any season, even though the birds may be continually near us. 

 In February, and in October, I have heard them (February 12 to 

 October 14), and in all the intervening months. The species 

 has also a short run of low, musically modulated notes, in fact, a 

 short warble. This is to be heard at the same seasons as the 

 whistling, and probably both are true song notes. 



Both adult and young are in full moult in August, though with 

 many individuals the growth of feathers does not cease until De- 

 cember. Through all this time the birds develop little fat, and I 

 have found them through the winter with almost no adipose 

 protection. 



Sitta carolinensis. White-bellied Nuthatch. 



The first positive suggestions of awakening spring are often 

 sufficient to entice this bird into song, such as its song is — a run- 

 ning repetition of a single note. But the result is nevertheless 

 agreeable, the notes possessing a mellow or resonant quality, 

 and, at a season when few birds are to be heard, is a conspicuous 

 and characteristic sound. The bird's eagerness sometimes leads 

 it to place confidence in a January thaw, when its song-notes may 

 sometimes be heard ; but these premature beginnings are usually 

 followed by many dreary days of silence. December 22, 18S2, 

 and January 11, in the mild winter of iSSo, are the earliest dates 

 I have for the first song. On the latter occasion the performer 

 had partially emerged from the entrance of an old Woodpeck- 



