_>4 I'll!': AMERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



And other circumstances connected with this same species 

 such as, its early arrival, and its long song season -will add to 

 one's preference for the bird. Again some circumstance not at all 

 connected with a bird's life may often make the observer regard 

 its singing as joyous or as most plaintive. An example of this 

 subjective attitude would be some great personal sorrow occuring 

 during a time when a bird's song was heard daily. Still another 

 proof of the power of suggestion will be found in the opposite 

 effect that some bird's song ma)' have on different persons. I 

 remen her once asking my mother whether she thought the notes 

 of the Field .Sparrow were plaintive. Her answer was that to her 

 they seemed cheery. 



Besides their songs all birds have brief call-notes that may or 

 may not be musical — usually they are not. Although these call- 

 notes are seldom of the same quality as the song, yet they are 

 sometin es very striking. Who that has heard in some deep vvood 

 the unique call of the vSacrlet Tanager will deny that it is very 

 pleasing ? Another species whose call-note I have always liked is the 

 Yellow-throated Vireo. But it must be admitted that many species 

 of birds have call-notes that are harsh and scolding. I recall a 

 good example of this in that charming songster the Warbling 

 Vireo. 



There is in call-notes a very striking feature that deserves 

 special study on the part of students of bird-life — this is the remak- 

 able power of expression which many species possess in their call- 

 notes. During the nesting season, or when the young have been 

 lately fledged, the old birds will often utter notes of evident alarm 

 or of wild excitement. 1 remember — after the report of a gun, and 

 the loud yelping of a dog that was shot — hearing a most piercing 

 cry come from a Spotted Sandpiper, the bird taking flight immedi- 

 ately. Another species whose voice has wonderful flexibility is the 

 Crow. One August afternoon, I remember the cawing of many 

 Crows in different parts of a deep wood and was struck by the 

 remarkable variation of each bird's utterance. 



An example of a bird whose call-notes may be termed musical 

 is the Goldfinch. I know of no other species that has a greater 



variety of pleasing notes. To me there is one quality in the notes 

 of the Goldfinch that is unequaled by any other species this i- 

 delicacy; and this quality is most evident in one of the bird'^ 

 common call-notes. In its more ambitious attempts at singing 



