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SONG-THRUSH SONG SOME Aspects of Song-Thrush (Turdus E

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SONG-THRUSH SONG SOME Aspects of Song-Thrush (Turdus E (262) SONG-THRUSH SONG BY NOBLE ROLLIN SOME aspects of Song-Thrush (Turdus e. ericetorwm) song are dealt with below under the following headings: total output for the day, portion of day used, hour to hour variation, day-time singing, dawn and dusk singing, token singing, singing and roosting, dawn penetration, notes. The observations were made in Northumberland, at Glanton and at Wallsend, between 1927 and 1944, the penetration records mostly 1927-1933 inclusive and the remaining' records 1941-1944 inclusive. All times, unless stated otherwise, are in Local Apparent Time, i.e. time by the sun at the place of observation. TOTAL OUTPUT FOR THE DAY. In Fig. 1 are given three Glanton examples of the total output of song at three different stages in the breeding cycle. In these diagrams and the subsequent one in Fig. 3, the first full hour of singing is entered from the time of the first song. The first full hour is thus set partially forward from the first normal hour's timing, e.g. the June 13th singer in Fig. 1 began to sing at 1.57 a.m. and its output of song from 1.57 a.m. to 2.57 a.m. is shown as the first full hour. The first normal hour, 2.30 a.m. to 3.30 a.m. is also shown, the two hours overlapping by 27 minutes. The last hour of singing is treated in a similar manner, but in reverse. The diagrams therefore indicate besides hour to hour output, the first and last full hour of output, and an indication of the time of commencement and cessation of the day's singing. The April 9th record shows the total output hour by hour, of an unmated bird in the Bird Station area at Glanton. The full singing of this bird continued day after day and was very noticeable even to casual observation. So far as I was able to ascertain, this bird never obtained a mate, and eventually abandoned the territory. The June 13th graph is the total output of a bird observed in a wood a little over half a mile from Glanton. This bird was apparently at the pairing phase of its breeding cycle, as it was seen the previous day with its (presumed) mate sitting opposite it (see Note 1). During the day it passed slowly through its terri­ tory, taking the whole day to go from one end to the other and back. The June 12th graph shows the total output of a bird in the Bird Station area at Glanton, which was feeding a brood of three to five young, three days out of the nest. The total output for the day in the above instances, together with the length of the singing day (measured from the first song in the morning to the last song in the evening), is given in the following VOL. XXXVIII,] SONG-THRUSH SONG. 263 is FIGURE I.—Total Output of Song During the Day. 264 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXVIII. table. Also included in the table is a record of the last singing of the season in the Station area, July 22nd, which amounted to a quarter of a minute for the whole day, and the output of the Walls- end " token " singing bird (Fig. 3), which is described later. Singing Output Day. of Song. April 9- Mateless bird in full song. 15 hrs. 00 mins. 377 mins. June 13- Bird apparently pairing. 18 hrs. 55 mins. 217 mins. June 12, Bird feeding young. 18 hrs. 16 mins. 33 mins. July 22. Last singing of season. 10 hrs. 11 mins. | min. May 17. " Token " singer. 17 hrs. 47 mins. 55 mins. This makes a somewhat direct correspondence between the stage in the breeding cycle and the output of singing in so far as the Glanton birds are concerned. The output for the day of the mate- less bird, 377 minutes, is respectively about twice and three and a half times the maximum figures given for the Sky-Lark (Alauda a. arvensis) and the Willow-Warbler (Phylloscopus t. trochilus) (antea, Vol. xxxvii, p. 87). Whilst it is extremely unlikely that any of these outputs are the maximum for the species, they suggest that the Song-Thrush occupies a high place for maximum output of song. PORTION OF DAY USED. The Song-Thrush's song is not continuous in the sense that the Sky-Lark's is, nor cut into more or less set lengths of continuity, as is the Willow-Warbler's. Thus, the unmated Song-Thrush averaged about 38 seconds of output of song for every minute it was occupied in singing and the total amount of time thus occupied in singing was 9 hrs. 55 mins. or 41% of the 24-hour day. This together with the time used in roosting is given in Fig. 2, which .shows graphically the relatively small amount (5 hrs. 5 mins. or 21%) of the day remaining for feeding and other daily activities of this unmated bird. HOUR TO HOUR VARIATION. In regard to the hour to hour variation, in all three graphs in Fig. 1 there is a morning block of song in which the dawn peak is highest (See Note II) and there is a block of song in the evening which reaches into dusk, but whose peak is not necessarily included in dusk. Judging by the all-day records I have made so far, this appears to be the typical construction of a Song-Thrush's daily song. Increased output over this basic pattern appears to be obtained not so much by raising the height of the peaks, though this may be done, as by filling in the space between them by more persistent day-time singing. VOL. XXXVIII.] SONG-THRUSH SONG. 265 DAY-TIME SINGING. A rather different type of observation was made on a bird at Wallsend which was kept under observation for a whole season. The first singing began in November and continued into December, when it ceased with the onset of wintry weather. The song was resumed again about mid-February and the bird continued to occupy its territory for the rest of the season. Systematic observa­ tions were begun in March. Observations were made on the territory in the morning from approximately 8.50 a.m. to 8.55 a.m., British Summer Time, and later double Summer Time. Out of ninety-one day-time observations from March to the beginning of August inclusive, this bird was heard singing only ten times, once in March, four times in May and five times in June. Some observa­ tions were also made near noon and in the afternoon in March and April, but no song was heard in twenty-six such observations. This shows that, for this bird at least, day-time singing was unusual. Similar observations were made on two other territories in the vicinity where the birds also began their singing season in November. A hundred and twenty observations were made on each and the results corresponded closely with those of the first bird. One of them was never heard in the day-time at all and the other was heard only six times. FIGURE 2,—Portion of Day used in Various Activities. Another Song-Thrush, which took up its territory for the first time in the first half of March, sang more freely in the day-time as it became established, and was heard singing on eight out of seven­ teen day-time observations during this month. However, in April, May and June, it too lapsed into virtual day-time silence, being heard only four times out of fifty-four observations. In July and early August what I presumed was the same bird came into full day-time singing again, being heard ten times out of twenty-four observations. The loud end-of-season singing of this bird became quite a feature in the area as the " silent month " of August approached, and on July 31st I found that it was singing sufficiently loudly for me to hear it at a distance of three quarters of a mile (over land). The bird continued in full song till August 8th, when it ceased for the season. 266 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. XXXVIII. DAWN AND DUSK SINGING. Dawn and dusk records were also made on the first-mentioned bird, which was so silent in the day-time. It is worthy of note that during eight dawn records and seven dusk records made at intervals from the beginning of March to the beginning of August, not &i a single occasion did this bird fail to sing, thus showing it to be a systematic twilight singer which was relatively quiet in the day-time. Similar, though less systematic, observations were made on the other three mentioned birds, and they revealed substantially the same state of affairs. Finally, three all-day records were made on the first mentioned birds, in April, May and early July. Fig. 3 is an example of these and gives a good idea of the type of singing indulged in by this bird. All three records agreed in conforming to the basic pattern of Song-Thrush song already outlined under Hour to Hour Variation. The total outputs for the day for these all-day records 13 1 1 FIGURE 3.—Total Output of Song During the Day. were 27, 55 and 42 minutes respectively, thus conforming to the type of output found in the Glanton bird feeding young out of the nest. TOKEN SINGING. It is clear, then, that these Wallsend birds, after they have established themselves in their territories with more or less day-time singing, normally relapse for most of the rest of the season into an abbreviated morning and evening reassertion by song of their territorial claim.
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