THE AUK: 



A Q^UARTERLY JOURNAL OF 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



VOL. I. July, 1884. Nq. 3. 



A STUDY OF THE SINGING OF OUR BIRDS. 



BY EUGENE P. BICKNELL. 



( Continued from p. 140.) 



Anthus peiisilvanicus {Lath.) Thienem.* American 



Titlark. 



Every autumn, late in September or early in October, Tit- 

 larks appear in restless flocks, flitting about the brown fields and 

 salt meadows, the quick double-note of many individuals sound- 

 ing in agreeable consonance when the flocks are on the wing. 



Before the present year I never knew them to occur in the 

 spring, but this season they were present in large flocks through 

 the greater part of April, first appearing on the 3d. On the 

 afternoon of the 20th, I was qviite sure I heard them sing — some 

 short trills, sometimes broken into separate notes, certainly 

 came from a flock of Titlarks in a large tulip tree standing alone 

 in a wide field. Though the songs of Robins and Meadow Larks 

 confused my heai'ing, before the flock took wing I heard enough 

 to satisfy me that the Titlark does sometimes sing while it is 

 with us on its spring migration. 



* Cf. Stejneger, Auk, Vol. I., pp. 167, 168. 



