334 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



rare occurrence in the Allegany Park country, and although my 

 identification may have been entirely right, I have left the bird out 

 of my list. 



On the same day I heard my first Red-eyed Vireo in that region. 

 There were several birds, and they sang persistently. The song 

 was entirely characteristic of the species, and I knew it well. There- 

 fore I did not hesitate to include this bird in my list immediately, 

 although it was more than a week before I actually saw one. 



He who would use song as a means of identifying birds must 

 possess an ear for music. If his sense of music is lacking then he 

 will have difficulty in remembering bird songs. Five factors are 

 present in bird songs, and the variations in these factors are the 

 points that distinguish different songs from one another. These 

 factors are pitch, time, quality, intensity and pronunciation. Pitch 

 may vary from the extremely high-pitched songs of some warblers 

 to the low-pitched " coo " of the Mourning Dove. Songs may 

 have little or no pitch variation, as in the Junco, or extreme varia- 

 tion as in the Bobolink and Brown Thrasher. In time, songs vary 

 from short performances scarcely more than a second in length to 

 long-continued songs that may last fifteen minutes. The time may 

 be regularly or irregularly rhythmic or entirely lacking in rhythm. 

 In quality, songs may vary from sweet, clear and highly musical 

 ones to harsh phrases that jar and grate upon the ear. The in- 

 tensity or loudness of song varies greatly. Sometimes there is a 

 distinct variation in the loudness of certain single notes. Some 

 birds have marked consonant sounds in their songs. Liquid sounds 

 like the letter 1, are common in the best singers, while explosive 

 consonant sounds like the letters t, d, p, are characteristic of others. 

 The beginner will find that writing the syllables as they sound to 

 him will be more helpful than trying to fit English words or phrases 

 to a song. The latter may be useful to some extent in indicating the 

 rhythm, but they seldom fit the bird's pronunciation perfectly. 



FIELD KEY TO THE BIRDS OF ALLEGANY PARK 



How to use the Field Key. The following key for the identi- 

 fication of birds, is designed for the use of the field student. 

 Descriptions are purposely not complete in many details, but are 

 confined to those points easily observed in the open. The key in- 

 cludes plumages of females and young where they differ from those 

 of adult males. 



In many cases the same species has been included under several 

 different color headings, because of the fact that under different 

 conditions different colors and marks are more conspicuous. The 

 student must have a good sense of color and a reasonable knowledge 

 of color names. Experience has shown me that many persons are 

 not so equipped. Grays, browns and dull greens are easily con- 

 fused. Birds of such inconspicuous colors must be carefully ob- 

 served in good light in order to identify them properly. 



