"2 24 BiCKNELL on thc Singing of Birds. [October 



hillsides its brief and emphatic song, and though this has at least 

 two distinct changes, greater variation is not often attempted. But 

 it has another song which is almost wholly confined to the season 

 of late summer and autumn. This is less vehement than the 

 song of the earlier season, but more prolonged and of greater 

 compass. It is a voluble and confused outpouring of singularly 

 involved and varied notes, showing considerable power of mim- 

 icry, and of indefinite continuance. Some approach to this song 

 is often noticeable in the ordinary songs of mid-summer, and 

 sometimes it is actually produced early in July ; but oftener it is 

 delayed until August. In September it is frequent, and com- 

 monly is among the last songs heard. On a few occasions I have 

 heard it in May and June, but these cases were wholly exception- 

 al. In the autumn a change of habits is noticeable on the part of 

 those individuals who have acquired the later song in its full 

 complexity. No longer are these restricted to their earlier haunts 

 amid hillside shrubbery and swampy undergrowth, which still 

 harbor their less enterprising companions, but they are often to be 

 found singing with full vigor amid the branches of tall trees, in 

 the open, about the borders of woods, or even in cultivated 

 grovmds close about habitations. 



On one occasion — July 28, 1S78 — I listened to a White-eyed 

 Vireo rehearsing its common song with a rapidity that left no 

 pause in its utterance. In its precipitate expression it soon lost 

 control of the regular repetition of its strain, and the notes 

 becoming sadly mixed, it desisted in confusion. It actually 

 seemed as if it were experimenting to see how many separate 

 songs could be thrown ofl'in a given time. 



Lanius borealis. Great Northern Shrike. 



While it is with us on its irregular and fleeting visits, this 

 winter Species does not often essay a greater vocal effort than a 

 harsh note or scream. On occasions, however, it does actually 

 sing ; though probably never with its fullest power in this lati- 

 tude. I have heard a variety of notes from it in October, on its 

 first arrival, and in November; but its highest vocal achievement 

 is in late winter and early spring. Its song may be one of the 

 first that the spring can claim ; for that indefinable change that 

 comes into the atmosphere and the sunlight on some days of late 



