NATURK STUDY. 
194 
Female Bird Songsters. 
A communication in our last number (March) concern¬ 
ing the songs of female birds was very suggestive. It is to 
be hoped that all persons interested will make observations 
and preserve notes on this subject. So far as my personal 
observation goes the female purple finch is the princess of 
female songsters. I was greatly puzzled when first I heard 
the song in spring, and chased several birds for hours, sup¬ 
posing them to be some species of sparrow, possibly Lin¬ 
coln’s sparrow, hitherto unknown to me. 
The song is usually soft and sweet, a sort of tranquil¬ 
lized edition of that of the male finch, less rollicking than 
his, more self-contained and spiritual. Sometimes, how¬ 
ever, she mounts the topmost branch of a tree, and gives 
forth an original strain, loud, full and rich, in form resemb¬ 
ling that of the swamp sparrow but more resonant and bril¬ 
liant. 
With regard to the song of the female veery, mentioned 
by our correspondent, I cannot help suspecting that a male 
bird was practicing some of his tricks in ventriloquism, in 
which art he is an adept. I have often heard the song of 
the same bird from different distances, and have been sur 
prised at finding that the nearer I was to the bird the soft¬ 
er seemed the song. Close at hand it had a muffled effect, 
while at a distance it made the woods ring with echoes. 
Many female birds warble very sweetly in the nesting 
season answering thus the more brilliant calls of their mates. 
We have especially noted this in the case of the yellow- 
throated vireos, who build and breed in the trees quite near 
our windows. F. w. b. 
