THE AUTUMN SONG OF BIRDS. 411 



spring song before the old year is out — it seems that certain birds 

 have an autumn song which is heard pretty regularly, while 

 certain other species are never by any chance heard to sing at 

 that season. It will generally be noticed that the autumn song is 

 of very poor quality ; that the strains are short and broken ; and 

 that it gives one the idea that the bird giving utterance to it is a 

 beginner trying to sing. For this reason it seems likely that the 

 autumn song is chiefly the production of young birds of the year, 

 which, having completed their moult, find the year still mild and 

 genial, and therefore try to sing. Still we are puzzled why some 

 species should do so and others not. 



The Mistletoe Thrush I have heard singing a few wild notes on 

 Sept. 16th, and in fairly full song on Nov. 6th. It often begins 

 its usual strain in December, and leaves off quite early. The 

 Song Thrush I have heard singing feebly at the latter end of 

 September and in October. The regular song is commenced some- 

 times as early as November. But I have never heard a Blackbird 

 sing the autumn song. In some seasons this bird will sing into 

 the latter half of July, but, unlike the Thrush, postpones the 

 opening of his regular song until the new year. In the district 

 in which I reside I do not find that he sings before February, and 

 it is often the middle of the month before his mellow notes are 

 heard. All three species of Leaf Warblers {Phylloscopus) have an 

 autumn song. The Willow Wren, which, with a few exceptions, 

 is silent soon after the middle of June, strikes up again about the 

 second week in August. But the Chiffchaff, whose spell of spring 

 song is very long, lasting from about the third week in March 

 until the last in July sometimes, naturally does not open again so 

 soon. It is heard in the last days of August, through September, 

 and even into October in some years. The Wood Wren I have 

 heard in August. But I never heard any of our best Warblers 

 (Blackcap, Garden Warbler, or Whitethroats) sing in autumn; they 

 sing well on into July, and in some cases to the end of the month. 

 Neither have I ever heard any of the river warblers sing the 

 autumn song. But I have a note from Mr. Warde Fowler saying 

 that he heard the Grasshopper Warbler this year on Sept. 15th ; 

 I have heard it in summer as late as July 23rd. The Robin's 

 autumn song is of course familiar to everybody. The broken 

 strains we hear at first are most probably the productions of 

 young birds just over their moult. 



