I92I. BuRKiTT. — Song and Nesting of Birds. 117 



From then to the end of March there was a fast waning of 

 song. By the end of the third week in April there was 

 practically neither evening nor dusk song. (It is all done 

 by Thrushes). Some areas are completely silent, and any 

 later song about me was a gentle occasional day warble 

 from an odd bird. I ceased taking notes of such on May 

 2ist and do not know when they ceased, but I know that 

 there was no song whatever after June 6th. I know little 

 about moulting but I saw a couple in moult between 12th 

 and end of June. 



Twelve pairs were more or less studied by me, five of 

 them in greater detail. At least three of the twelve had 

 disasters in nesting. The earliest nest was laid up on 

 March 29th. The next four between the 9th and 13th 

 April, which corresponds to the normal early nests here 

 over many years. The latest was laid up about the 12th 

 May. I was unable to satisfy myself about any definite 

 relation of song to nesting. At least two of the pairs never 

 sang at all as far as I could note, unless a few times a 

 month before eggs, even though one was near my front 

 door. Two pairs sang a little before being laid up. Two 

 others sang five and eleven days respectively before being 

 laid up, and while little during incubation, their song 

 continued more or less, even when feeding the young after 

 leaving the nest. One was very evident as a mateless bird 

 and the best singer round me, singing from March 5th to 

 April iith when he was paired. He made no subsequent 

 song, but disaster happened to the nest on hatching, 

 therefore the song relation is incomplete. The relation of 

 song to nesting would be better studied where Blackbirds 

 are scarcer than around me. 



I have no evidence at all, in this or previous years, 

 of second broods except where the fi^rst nest was destroyed. 

 The English books say several broods are hatched. Howard 

 Saunders says first broods are often hatched by end of 

 March ; ours would be fully three weeks later. 



Song Thrush. — As a rule an odd Thrush can be heard 

 any time from the beginning of the year. By February 

 4th song was very generally distributed, but judging by a 



