MISCELLANEOUS JOTTINGS ON BIRD SONGS. 453 



of his full song — in fact, his autumn song is nothing more than 

 a very subdued warble, so low that it cannot be heard beyond a 

 few yards' distance, and kept up almost continuously whilst he 

 creeps about amongst the bushes. The duration of this autumn 

 singing appears to depend very much on the weather ; in the 

 case of the Chiifchaff and Willow-Wren it usually begins with 

 August, and lasts until early in September ; but in the phenom- 

 enally hot autumn of 1897 the Willow-Wren was singing every 

 day in the south of Yorkshire up to the 30th of September, and 

 the Chiffchaff up to the 3rd of October ; whilst in the mild 

 winter which followed, both Chaf35nch and Yellowhammer were 

 singing occasionally until well on in December ; and both were, 

 once more in song before the end of the following January — the 

 Chaffinch for the first time on January 21st, the Yellowhammer 

 on the 25th. 



