The male goldenwing sings generally from a high perch, often from a branch bare of leaves; hence, once we find him, we can see him plainly. When he sings he throws his head back so far that his bill points almost to the zenith, and sings with it widely open, as if he were pouring out a great volume of sound. The bird sings freely from his arrival in spring until mid-June, about a month, often devoting himself to long periods of singing from the same perch. Later in the season, after the young have hatched, he sings only fitfully. The song most often heard is composed of four notes, the first prolonged, and followed, after an almost imperceptible pause, by three shorter notes on a lower pitch. All four notes are delivered in a leisurely manner, drawling in tempo, and might be written _zeee, zer-zer-zer_. The first note takes up about half the time of the song. The quality of the voice is buzzing, and when heard near at hand, slightly rasping, with a lisping suggestion throughout. The song carries well; curiously it seems little louder when heard at close range, but from a distance it sounds smoother and, losing much of the buzzing quality, suggests a long drawn out _thth_, _th-th-th_, like a whispering wind. Occasionally there may be four short notes, and sometimes only two following the long initial note. Like some of the other warblers, notably the black-and-white, chestnut-sided, and black-throated green, the goldenwing sings two distinct songs. In the second form the buzzing tone is nearly or wholly absent. It begins with about half a dozen short notes given in a quick series on the same pitch, and ends with one long note on a higher key, _th-th-th-th-th-th-theee_. I have heard two males singing antiphonally, the responses repeated with perfect regularity for several minutes. Of the minor notes the commonest is a short, slightly roughened _dz_. When much excited both adults use a chattering _tchu-tchu-tchu_, suggesting in manner of delivery the song of the short-billed marsh wren, although it is higher pitched and not so loud. Francis H. Allen (MS.) mentions two other songs, only slightly different from the above. One goes something like "_tick tick chick chick chick chick shree_. The _shree_ is a beady note resembling one of the cedar waxwing's familiar notes." Another song he writes as "_see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-see-dz'-dsee_."