Bulletin of the Michigan Ornithological Club. 



31 



still the true song is only rendered by 

 the male bird. I am sincere in saying that 

 the lady bird talks more than her mate 

 about the house, but I will admit that 

 when away from home she is very dis- 

 creet in this respect. In attending to 

 her duties of incubation she is verj^ quiet, 

 and it is seldom that a note is heard 

 from her while on the nest. It has 

 been said that all birds are silent when 

 incubating, so as to avoid observation ; 

 although most species are quiet when 

 setting, there are a few which chirp loudly 

 when so engaged, and some even burst into 

 exuberant song. 



Few observers are aware how assidous 

 are the attentions of the two birds to one 

 another during incubation, and the credit 

 which is due to the father-bird in his 

 devotion in covering the eggs in his mate's 

 absence is not allowed him. 



Of course, when a bird is heard sing- 

 ing on the nest we know that the notes 

 come from the male, but many young 

 observers are inclined to attribute it to 

 the female. Another source of error in 

 failing toidentifj^ the sex occurs with those 

 species in which the male assumes the 

 plumage of the female until the second 

 or third year. 



The Chipping Sparrow sometimes sings 

 his chattering refrain while upon the eggs. 

 Yellow Warblers are not rarely heard 

 singing from the nest, but one has to 

 wait patiently in a neighboring copse, at 

 the proper season, in order to see, hear and 

 be convinced. 



I have once heard the Marj^land Yellow- 

 throat's song from its concealed nest in the 

 grass ; in fact, I found the nest from 

 hearing the peculiar notes almost at my 

 feet. Several times the song of the House 

 Wren has reached me from the cavity 

 where the old bird was sitting solacing 

 himself in his cavernous nesting spot. 



Once, each, I have heard the notes 

 of the Black-billed Cuckoo, Scarlet Tana- 

 ger, Orchard Oriole, Goldfinch, Rose- 

 breasted Grosbeak, and the Hermit 

 Thrush, the latter the only Thrush whose 

 song positively reached me from the 

 nest. One would think that the Brown 

 Thrasher, Cat-bird and Robin, as great 

 singers, would burst forth on the nest. 



but it must be borne in mind that these 

 thrushes prefer higher perches for singing, 

 while the Hermit is a ground nester and 

 often sings on the ground. 



But of all the species which are musical 

 while setting, the Warbling Yireo heads 

 the list, both for persistence and for beauty 

 of song. Anyone can listen to the song of 

 the Warbling Yireo on the nest if the 

 trouble is taken to find a nest with eggs in 

 May or June. For when the mate takes 

 his trick keeping the eggs w'arm, he cheers 

 himself, and enlivens the surroundings 

 by his rippling, inspiring melodious warble. 

 I have heard him sing from the nest in 

 early morning, in the hottest part of the 

 day, and in the early twilight, and I 

 have heard him issue as many as twenty 

 bursts of song during one spell on the nest, 

 and have discovered the nest on more than 

 one occasion by the sweetly modulated 

 tell-tale song. 



The Prairie Horned Lark. 



H. F. JONES. 



WHEN the fields are covered with 

 snow and the mighty winter 

 king has sent most of the feath- 

 ered tribe to their southern homes, then 

 is the Prairie Horned Lark in his glory. 

 On one of the coldest and bleakest days 

 of winter I saw a pair of Larks chasing 

 each other and singing merrily, seeming to 

 bid defiance to the cold weather. Last 

 month they were more common than 

 during any other month so far. One 

 day I saw a flock of eight plump Larks 

 hunting for food on the crust over a foot of 

 snow. 



As the winter days decline and spring 

 is ushered in with its green grass and warm 

 sunshiny atmosphere, the Lark partakes of 

 the delightful influences just as do the rest 

 of us. But these davs are not ideal ones 

 for him, for I have heard him singing 

 his prettiest songs on a dark and cloudy 

 day in a drenching rain. I have not been 

 able to imitate the notes of the Lark to 

 much eff'ect as they are repeated so quickly 

 and run together. The Lark has two 

 songs ; the one, the short quick tones 

 which, when heard indistinctly, sound like 

 the squeaking of a wagon wheel ; the other, 



