This paper presents the results of an experimental study on the characteristics of the vortex- induced vibration of an elastically supported circular cylinder in the cross air flow. For a range of velocities, power spectral densities of the signals from a hot-wire anemometer placed in the wake of an oscillating circular cylinder and gap sensors placed in the both ends of a circular cylinder were obtained to determine vortex-shedding frequencies, natural frequencies and vibrating frequencies of a cylinder. The effects of slots in the test section on vortex shedding and cylinder oscillation were investigated. The present study covered the reduced velocity range 1.0 .leg. Ur .leg. 64.6. The response characteristics of the cylinder has been shown to vary extensively, depending on the slots in the test section as well as on the reduced velocity. For an elastically supported cylinder, a purely translation mode oscillation was observed at a low velocity, however a rotation mode oscillation was often superposed for higher velocities. These two oscillating frequencies were equal to their natural frequencies irrespective of the changes of free stream velocities.