A TIME=TABLE OF BIRD SONG. 



W. GYNGELL, 

 Scarborough. 



The accompanying table is the result of personal observations 

 during many years' residence in the Scarborough district of 

 Yorkshire. The line following the name of each bird through 

 the month of the year shows the earliest and the latest dates 

 (indicated by the figure in the month), when such bird has 

 been heard to sing. The line rises, showing the increasing 

 number of individuals of the species to be heard in full song ; 

 rising more or less slowly in the case of resident birds, and 

 usually rapidly with our summer visitors, that burst into song 

 almost immediately on their arrival. The lines reach a moderate 

 height, or a considerable height, just as the bird is a chary or 

 a free singer. With most species it will be seen that the song 

 drops more or less suddenly when the young birds hatch, and 

 does not re-commence until the approach of the following 

 pairing season. Notable exceptions to this rule are the Hedge 

 Sparrow, Wren, Linnet, and Starling, that sing almost all the 

 year round. The Robin has been heard on every day of the 

 year. 



Several species of birds common throughout the year in 

 southern counties are chiefly known as summer visitors to 

 the Scarborough district ; thus the Pied W^agtail, Meadow 

 Pipit and Corn Bunting, common enough in summer, are 

 usually reduced to mere stragglers from October to March. 



It is with regret that the Ring Ouzel, Wheatear, Stone 

 Chat, Dipper, and Reed Bunting are omitted from the list 

 through lack of opportunity to make continuous records of 

 their songs ; these species not occurring in sufficient numbers 

 in the district immediately under observation. 



The singing of wild birds kept in confinement is a source 

 of trouble to observers of bird song, and especially is this the 

 case with the Linnet, that as a bird-catcher's decoy bird may 

 be heard singing from a cage beneath some limed twigs in a 

 hedge. The autumn or winter song of the caged Song Thrush 

 is also apt to mislead an observer. 



What constitutes the real song of a bird as distinct from its 

 call or alarm notes is not easy to determine in a few species, 

 of which the Martin ma}^ be taken as an example. This bird's 



1908 May I. 



