Tlie Singing of Birds. B.P.BioknelX. 



; ■ . f<<.r\ Sialia sialis. Bluebird. 



This beautiful and domestic species evinces a most impression- 

 able temperament, which responds with song to the fanrtes 

 su-estion of returning spring, and with silence to the eariiest 

 foretastes of the sultriness and heat of summer. Its_ me ocy is 

 the first that comes to us with the new year, and :s of those 

 which we earliest lose. So sensitive, indeed, is the Bluebircl to 

 the slio-htest vernal influence that its cheerful warbling is often 

 sadly out of season, as when it is called forth by a mild, sugges- 

 tive dav in January, or even in December. 



It mi-ht appear to be an open question whether these midwin- 

 ter songs are those concluding autumn singing or those maugma- 

 tin- the musical celebration of the spring. The truth is that they 

 result from the over-strained imaginations of too eager lovers ; 

 and thus we get spring songs before the winter solstice. 



Within the last seven years the dates of introductory songs 

 have ranged between December iS and February lo. According 

 to the character of the winter, continued song may date directly 

 from its introduction or be delayed, with occasional eflorts oc- 

 cupying the interim, until spring becomes more assertive ; bu 

 singing seems rarely or never to be postponed beyond the final 



winter month. , . -i i 



March is pre-eminentlv the month of song. Betore April has 

 ended their ardor has perceptibly waned, a change which pro- 

 cresses through Mav ; and sometimes in this, as m the following 

 month, singing is so infrequent that often it seems to be suspend- 

 ed as it actually is in July. Sometimes no song will be heard 

 in this month ; again, isolated songs occur almost to its close. 



I do not find that I have any record of the Bluebird smgmg m 

 Au<.ust ; but undoubtedly its song is to be heard m every month 

 of the year. From early July until about mid-September is a 

 time of general silence; sometimes this is broken m the first 

 week of September, sometimes not until the last of the month. 



Sinoin- seems to be rather inconstant in the fall, but usually 

 aftler the "Second week of September the cheerful warblmg that 

 we have missed since June may occasionally again be heard un- 

 til the end of the following month. But I have no November 



Ank. I. April, 1884. P. Z^^- 



The Bluebird as a Mimic. 



Br W. E. SAUNDEKS, LONDON, ONTARIO. 



r/. 



On March 12th, 1886, while looking for the 

 earliest migrants in a small piece of woods about 

 jfour miles west of here I saw a Bluebird in a 



leafless beech, and heard him warble. Imme- 

 diately before his next warbling I heard a note 

 which appeared to come from beneath the 

 Blueliird, which I took to be that of a Blue Jay. 

 With the intention of making a, skin of the Jay I 

 appi-oached, but before seeing hini I heard the 

 same note "Kay— Kay" from the same place, 

 and on advancing closer the Bluebird flew 

 away, warbling as he went. As he flew into 

 an open field I saw that he went alone, but just 

 I after he reached a tree iu the open I heard the 



1 same Jay note from that tree followed as before 



' ■ by a fraction of the Bluebird's song. T ostudy 



the matter, I stayed where I was, and after 

 listening for some time, I found that after the 

 Bluebird had warble(i from four to seven times, 

 the next warble would be prefaced with the 

 Jay note that had decieved me. The time taken 

 in uttering this note was deducted from the 

 regular song, but it was made up to the usual 

 length of a Bluebird's song by adding the latter 

 piu-t of its own song, giving the impression that 

 the bird could only take enough breath to sing 

 a eei-tain number of seconds, and if three fifths 

 of that time were taken up by a Jay's note its 

 own song had to be cut oil' with only the other 

 two fifths. 



Considering this as a ease of mimicry, it puz- 

 zled me considerably why the Bluebird did not 

 give the Jay note alone, or else follow it by its 

 own complete song, and not merely by the end 

 of it. Has any olher reader of the O. & O., 

 noticed the Bluebird posing as a mimic? 

 0.& 0» XILApr.^ fi87 p. f> ^^Jt. 



