177
Peterborough, New Hampshire.
1898.
July 5 to
Aug. 15.
(No 25)
(Pipilo erythrophthalmus) Singing is as follows: Aug. 1:1*,
2: 4*,  5: 1*, 9: 1* (in full continued song from 9 to
9.15 A.M. weather cloudy & misty at the time).
  Passerina cyanea. - Abundant, frequenting chiefly thickets of low
bushes along stone walls, roadsides and the border
of woods. The males frequently perched and sang on the
telegraph wires along the road to the village. They
continued in full song up to August 8th (later than
any other bird found here) but after the close of
July their songs, although losing nothing in vigor &
sweetness, were heard less frequently and chiefly in
the early morning or at evening. My full record is:
July 6: 2*,  7: 3*,  9: 4*, 10: 2*,  11: 1*, 12:1*, 18: 2*, 19: 2*,  20: 2*,  21:1*,  24: 2*, 28: 2*,
30: 1*, 31: 2*, August 1: 1*, 2: 1*, 3: 3*, 4:1*, 5: 1*, 6: 1*, 7: 1*,  8: 1* (sang only once, at sunrise)
10: 1* (sang once, briefly & feebly, at sunrise ) 12: 1* (full song once 2 P.M.) 14: 1*, 15: 1*, 17: 1* (once, 10 o'clock)
The song of the Indigo Bird, like that of the Phoebe,
has a peculiar quality of harsh sweetness. (Metallic 
sweetness would be perhaps a better term in the
case of the Indigo). At its best it is one of the
sweetest as most technically perfect songs that
I know. The finer singers seem to have studied their
[?] with the greatest care for every note is distinctly
enunciated and nicely inflected yet there is no trace
of effort or self consciousness in the smoothly flowing
yet intricate strain. The inferior singers, however,
stutter and hesitate distressingly. I have observed that
they are usually in immature (ie brown-mottled)
plumage. The Indigo Bird sings more freely in intensely hot weather than does any other of our birds.
I saw broods of young Indigo birds on wing as early
as July 12th. They were always accompanied by both parents.