THE OOLOGIST. 



182 



The Oologist. 



A Monthly Magazine Devoted to 



OOLOGY AND ORNITHOLOGY. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher. 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and items of Interest to tne 

 .student of Birds, their Nests and Eggs, solicited 

 from all. 



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ALBION, N. Y., AS SECOND-CLASS MATTER 



Birds Who Sing on the Wing. 



I have read Avith a good, deal of inter- 

 est Dr. Morris Gibb's article on "Birds 

 who sing on the wing" in the March 

 Oologist, but I cannot let the subject 

 pass without mention of our best song- 

 ster in this district and one that never 

 sings except on the wing, namely Mc- 

 Cowns's Longspur. 



These little birds are abundant every- 

 where on the prairie and it is a great 

 source of pleasure to me to listen to 

 them. When on the ground I have 

 never heard them make any sound ex- 

 cept a little chirp. The true song is 

 only given when the birds rise from the 

 grass, fly nearly straight upwards for 



twenty.' or thirty feet, then spreading 

 their wings and tail like a parachute 

 they slowly descend to the ground 

 singing at the same time a song, which 

 if once heard is not likely to be soon 

 forgotten. I noticed several times that 

 when the song ceased before the bird 

 reached the ground it stopped its soar- 

 ing flight and flew off in a different 

 direction, generally to the ground, but 

 occasionally they would fly up- 

 wards and repeat it. The song al- 

 though very characteristic and unlike 

 any other with which I am acquainted 

 is still difiicult to describe properly. It 

 is something inspiring to listen to these 

 little birds, there is something so free 

 and joyous about their song, it bursts 

 out as though they were unable to con- 

 tain themselves a moment longer, as 

 soon as oue settles another rises, some- 

 limes two and three at a time, thus 

 keeping up a continual music all the 

 time. 



I do not know of any species of birds 

 which sing so much as these do, to me 

 they seem to do nothing else. I think 

 that both sexes sing, but am not cer- 

 tain, it is impossible to distinguish 

 them on the wing and the only two I 

 shot were both males so I could not be 

 sure, but it seemed to me that when I 

 was watching them all the birds round 

 me were singing and as it was long 

 after the breeding season it is ' fair to 

 suppose that both sexes were equally 

 distributed. 



These birds differ from most of the 

 others in that they sing as much after 

 the nesting season as they do before it, 

 in fact their singing is kept up until 

 their departure for the south which 

 takes place about the first of September. 

 J. E. Houseman, 

 Calgary, Alberta. 



A Hint on Preserving Nests. 



Others have given instructions on the 

 use of fine thread for wrapping nests so 



