Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



29 



these is the Prairie Horned Lark, which 

 comes very near to being a singer, and 

 which has a flight of special interest ; still 

 these efforts are not sufficiently musical 

 to entitle the birds to rank in this list 

 of musicians as accepted by critics. 



It will be observed that a tremulous 

 motion of the wings almost invariably 

 accompanies song-flight. We may main- 

 tain then, that the quivering of the wings 

 is an accompaniment to the song is a strict- 

 ly seasonal feature. All have noticed 

 the loss of the song synchronously with the 

 skyward flight flutter in the case of the 

 Bobolink, when he assumes his summer 

 dress and prepares to move South and 

 become the plebeian Kicebird. I have yet 

 to hear a bird sing on the wing in the 

 autumn. 



We have no regular night singers in 

 the Great Lake Region, so far as 1 am able 

 to learn, and in this respect America 

 does not equal England, which has several 

 nocturnal songsters, one of which excels as 

 a musician. The famous English natur- 

 alist, Gilbert White, records three species 

 which sing at night in the British Isles. 

 They are the Reed Sparrow, which 

 sings among the reeds and willows, the 

 Woodlark, singing in mid-air, and the 

 Nightingale, as Milton describes it, — "In 

 shadiest covert hid." 



There are several species of owls which 

 roll forth or screech out their notes at 

 night, and also numerous shore birds 

 and water-fowl that issue their varied calls, 

 and especially these latter, who are partial 

 to night travel, spring and autumn. 

 Then, too, our Whip-poor-will confines his 

 singular but monotonous jargon to the 

 hours of darkness, while the scream of 

 the Nighthawk more often breaks on the 

 ear between the setting and rising of the 

 sun. But these birds are not, strictly 

 speaking, songsters, although their notes 

 undoubtedly fill their requirements as to 

 harmony and expression. 



The plain, domestic little Chipping 

 Sparrow sometimes favors us with its 

 simple chatter in the darkest night. 

 The notes hardly deserve the name of 

 song, but heard issuing from the sur- 

 rounding gloom, the simple refrain com- 



mands our attention from its oddity at 

 the unusual hour. The Wood Pewee 

 not rarely quavers forth its plaintive 

 offering, sounding in the depths of night 

 like a wail from a departed spirit. This 

 favorite songster is a remarkably early 

 riser, as he is also late in going to rest, 

 and I have sometimes thought that his 

 musical efforts at night were the result 

 of an error on his part — an idea strength- 

 ened by the fact that the notes are rarely 

 heard more than once or twice during 

 the night, and moreover the song is 

 only occasional, and only in the nesting 

 season. 



Other species which are heard to burst 

 forth in ecstatic melody, are the Swain- 

 son's and Hermit Thrushes. If 1 could 

 describe the songs of birds, so that other 

 bird-lovers could understand them as 

 I do. I would feel that a partial ac- 

 knowledgement had been made to the 

 divine melody issuing from these birds' 

 throats. 



The Cuckoo also sings at night, or at 

 least bubbles out its peculiarly emphasized 

 jargon, which is called a song out of 

 courtesy rather than from any real merit. 

 Both species, the Black-billed and Yel- 

 low-billed Cuckoos favor us, but the former 

 is more aubundant. 



We often hear that the best singers 

 are the ones of plainest dress, but this 

 is assurredly not so in all instances. If 

 one is permitted to listen to the sweet 

 refrain of the Scarlet Tanager in the night, 

 it will be acknowledged that the brilliant 

 coat of the songster does not compare 

 in point of excellence to the owner's divine 

 song. 



These birds are the only ones at the 

 North that I am acquainted with that 

 sing during the hours of darkness, and 

 not one of them is a regular singer in 

 the night. Information has reached me 

 from no less an authority than Mr. Robert 

 Ridgway, of Washington, to the efi'ect 

 that the Yellow-breasted Chat is a perform- 

 er in darkness. 



Among birds the females do not sing, 

 and although many species have musical 

 call-notes and agreeable tones in conver- 

 sation, which are shared in by both sexes, 



