1921 Campbell. — The Time of the Singing Birds. 75 

 THE TIME OF THE SINGING OF BIRDS. 



BY D. C. CAMPBELL. 



Mr. Burkitt's interesting article on " Songs and the 

 Nesting of Birds," in the Irish Naturalist for January 

 (p. I supra), brings up many points for investigation. But 

 the questions he raises are, I feel, beset by many difficulties. 



For example, how is it possible to recognize and keep 

 under observation individual birds unless they are captured 

 and marked ; also how can one be sure that certain singing 

 birds are nesting or not ? As to the question of mating and 

 nesting putting a stopper on song, I always leant to the 

 common belief that the fullest and most persistent singing 

 was during the breeding season. Mr. Burkitt's careful 

 observations throw doubt on this. Still I am inclined to 

 think that some of our Irish birds — like the case of American 

 Warblers quoted by Mr. W. H. Workman in the April number 

 (p. 52) — sing over or near their nests. Without being 

 positive, I would mention the Thrush, Robin, Chaffinch and 

 Hedge- Sparrow. I have definitely noted the Goldcrest and 

 Blackbird singing above their nests. 



If mating^ and nesting put a stopper on song, we should 

 find a falling off in song, but in my experience this is not so, 

 in fact the reverse is true, March, April and May bring out 

 the fullest volume of song ; this is not to say that by any 

 means all the singing birds are nesting, probably a fair 

 number are not. It would not be easy to estimate the 

 number of nests and the number of singing birds in a given 

 area, but I think it could be done. 



I have looked up my books, and the following lists give 

 details of my notes on the singing periods of some of our 

 common species. The observations were mostly made during 

 morning journeys of about three miles to town, along a 

 varied country road. My notes on other species are not 

 sufficiently complete to embody in the lists. 



The beginning and ending of the song periods approxi- 

 mately agree with Mr. Burkitt's records, also with Mr. 

 Foster's monthly records in the Irish Naturalist for Feb- 

 ruary (p. 21 supra). 



A i 



