^^O BiCKNELL oti the Singing of Birds. [October 



between April 9 and May 2. Beyond the latter date it is never 

 common, and in some seasons there are but few birds remaining 

 at the end of April. Singing does not usually begin until from 

 two to three weeks after the pioneer migrants have made their 

 appeai'ance. 



This Sparrow I have never heard sing in the autumn. 



Pooecetes gramineus. Grass Finch. 



Where this Sparrow breeds numerously it perhaps sings on 

 later into the summer than in the locality of my observations, 

 where it is not a common summer bird. In some years I have 

 not heard it long after the entry of July, but usually it sings till 

 late in the month, and I am not without dates of its singing in 

 early August. 



In the autumn the species as a whole is without song, but in- 

 dividuals sometimes infringe the general rule of silence. At 

 Saratoga, on September 30, 1S83, a bird rose into the air from a 

 sandy field, ascending with an excited chippering which passed 

 into the musical notes of a varied and extended song ; this in- 

 stantly suggested the song of the Vesper Sparrow, differing, how- 

 ever, in being less definite in theme and more prolonged, but just as 

 the songs of many birds while on the wing differ from their usual 

 strains. Where the bird alighted a flock of Vesper Sparrows 

 scattered up on my approach, and there can be no doubt that it 

 was to one of their number that I had listened. I had not before 

 observed the song-flight in this species. Another record of this 

 Sparrow's singing in the autumn has been mislaid. 



Coturniculus passerinus. Yellow-winged Sparrow. 



This little field bird continues in song up to the middle of July 

 or later, sometimes even into the early days of August. It seems 

 most persistent in song in hot, dry summei's, when, on the most 

 fervid days, its fine notes sound sibilant and insect-like about the 

 parched fields. 



Zonotrichia leucophrys. White-crowned Sparrow. 



I have never to my knowledge heard the song of this fine Spar- 

 row ; nor, indeed, have I ever found it a common bird in the 



