12
Back Bay Basin,
Boston, Mass.
1909.
Feb. 27
(No 12)
these doubled and trebled notes were produced by two or
three birds calling nearly together but on studying them
closely I found that their component parts or syllables were
each shorter than the normal single call and otherwise
slightly different. This led me to conclude that the compressed
notes were probably produced by single birds. Negative evidence
supporting this inference was furnished by the fact that
whenever I was able to watch several drakes performing
in company I noticed that they always called in
orderly succession, at distinctly separate intervals, and
that their notes were of normal length and form. The
intervals were often very brief, however, and when nine
or ten birds were engaged at once their combined voices
produced a volume of sound well nigh continuous
and lasting, perhaps, for a half minute or more.
This, softened by distance and coming over the glassy,
Whistler courtship.
Love call