In a message dated 5/18/2000 2:38:22 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
romea at pmel.noaa.gov writes:

> The canonical description for the Song Sparrow song is the politically
> incorrect:
> "Maids...Maids...get-out-your tea-kettle tea-kettle"

There is actually one description out there that actually helped me recognize
a Song Sparrow by sound before I saw it: _Birds of Seattle and Puget Sound_
describes one of the more common songs as "Hip, hip, hip, hooray, boys!
Spring is here again!"

The "hip, hip, hip" is all on one tone; the "hoo" dips a bit; the "ray" is
high; the "boys" starts low and rises steadily; and "spring is here again" is
a series of four to six fairly low monotones that occur at the end of most
SOSP utterances.

Nick Pharris
Olympia, WA
NJPharris at aol.com