NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SWAINSON'S WARBLER 65 



Louisiana waterthrush. Close up, however, the appealing quality, lacking in 

 the other two, impresses the listener strongly. 



Songs of different individuals of the species vary. I have stood 

 in one spot and heard the songs of five Swainson*s Warblers, each 

 distinctly different. 



The song consists of three or four high introductory notes, all 

 separated, followed by a phrase of four or five syllables uttered 

 rapidly and slurred (Brooks and Legg, 1942, p. 82). 



The songs of seven birds v^^ere analyzed from tape recordings 

 made by W. W. H. Gunn (in Griscom and Sprunt 1957, p. 26-27) 

 at Charleston, W. Va. Gunn's rendition is as follows : 



tee-o tee-o (tee) whit-sut-say bee-o, or tee-o tee toot-sut-say hee-u, or whee-u 

 whee whit-sut-say bee-o. 



. . . they have louti ringing songs closely resembling those of the Louisiana 

 Waterthrush both in tonal quality and phraseology. However, certain char- 

 acteristic differences are evident: First, songs of Swainson's Warblers are 

 noticeably shorter in duration, being composed of fewer syllables. Then too, 

 the slow opening notes comprising the first part of the song differ markedly 

 in phrasing between the two species, and although there is a remarkable 

 resemblance in the second portion of the song, the Louisiana Waterthrush 

 then typically goes on to add a final phrase missing from songs of Swain- 

 son's Warblers. 



Gunn says that the duration of the Swainson's song is 1% sec- 

 onds and that of the Louisiana Waterthrush's II/2 to 2 seconds. 



At a distance the strongly accented slurred ending (the first 

 note high in pitch, the second low) of the Hooded Warbler song is 

 suggestive of the ending of the Swainson's Warbler song, and 

 often is confusing. 



Whisper song 



Berger (1961, p. 169) defines the whisper song as "the soft 

 inward rendering of the primary advertising song, with or with- 

 out variations." Muted or whisper songs of the Swainson's War- 

 bler are a continuous chatter or musical twittering that may go on 

 for as long as 3 minutes. I have never noticed any resemblance to 

 the primary advertising song; rather they sound more like the 

 continuous chattering notes of Goldfinches (Spinm tristis) in the 

 spring, but are more musical. I have also heard in the spring a 

 chattering song of kinglets (Regulus satrapa and R. calendula) 

 and Blue-gray Gnatcatchers (Polioptila caerulea) that sounded 

 a bit like the Swainson's Warbler whisper song. In the floodplain 

 forest canebrakes of the Ocmulgee River in Georgia in April, I 

 have heard all four of these species rendering these notes at 

 nearly the same time. There have been times when I was not sure 



