The Audubon Societies 295 



All birds have call-notes, which are varied more or less to express sociabil- 

 ity, fear, the mating instinct, solicitude for offspring and natural exuberance. 

 Usually both male and female birds possess call-notes in equal variety and 

 intensity, but this is not true of song. In a few species the female sings some, 

 for example the Purple Finch, but in the majority of perchers, the males 

 alone possess the full power of song. The reason for this is not hard to discover, 

 when we study the part which song plays in the daily life of birds. The female 

 birds, as mothers, must stay quietly hidden on the nest, to incubate their 

 eggs and shelter their nestlings, while the males are much freer to leave the 

 nesting-site and keep watch for dangers and enemies; so to them is given the 

 joyful task of singing. Just how much the beautiful songs which they sing 

 mean to their mates, we do not know, but we may be sure that song is a wise 

 provision of Nature, and that it is an indispensable part of the bird's life. 



It is a delightful accomplishment to be familiar with bird-songs, and a 

 difficult one, too. It is perhaps quite as delightful, but far more difl5cult, to 

 acquire familiarity with the call-notes of even the most common species, so 

 great is their variety and similarity. 



No part of bird-study can give you more pleasure at this season than the 

 study of song. Those who have 'an ear for music' will gain a hold on bird- 

 music much more readily than those who are duller of hearing, but no one 

 need despair who has patience and enthusiasm. You can hear birds far oftener 

 than you can see them at this time of the year. 



And as you awaken to the strains of the morning-chorus of the feathered 

 choirs about you, remember this little midsummer sermonette on song, and 



Touch your lips with gladness, and go singing on your way." 



SUGGESTIONS 



1. How many phrases do the different species of Vireos sing per minute? Time the 

 Red-eyed, Yellow-throated, and White-eyed Vireos. 



2. What kind of call-note does the Robin give in times of excessive heat? 



3. What birds have been named from their call-notes and songs? 



4. What are the best singers among birds that you know? 



5. Can you tell the call-notes of nestling birds from those of their parents? 



6. What birds sing at night? How late have you heard birds sing? 



7. Are the evening and morning songs of birds different. 



8. Study one common species and see how many different kinds of songs and call- 

 notes it gives. Take the Robin, for example. 



9. Do individuals of the same species of birds sing differently? Study the Song 

 Sparrow, for example. 



10. Do individuals of the same species sing in different keys in different localities? 

 Study the Baltimore Oriole, for example. 



11. Can you recognize any single bird by some peculiarity in its song? 



12. What birds are mimics in song? What birds lure their prey by means of mim- 

 icry? 



13. What other creatures besides birds have the gift of song? — A. H. W. 



