Wood notes wild, notations of bird music;

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AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY

Te

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Woop Notes WILD

NOTATIONS OF BIRD MUSIC

BY

SIMEON PEASE CHENEY

AUTHOR OF THE “AMERICAN SINGING-Book ”

COLLECTED AND ARRANGED WITH APPENDIX, NOTES,
BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND GENERAL INDEX

By JOHN VANCE CHENEY

AuTHOR oF THE “ GoLDEN Guess’’ (Essays On Portry), “THISTLE-
Drirt’’ (Poems), ‘Woop Biooms’' (PozMs), ETC.

BOSTON
LEE AND SHEPARD PvuBLISHERS

so MiLK Sv, Next ‘'THeE Otp South Megtinc House”

1892

Copyright, 1891,
By LEE AND SHEPARD.

All rights reserved.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Aniversity Press:
Joun Witson Anp Son, CAMBRIDGE.

Now blessings on ye all, ye heroic race,
Who keep their primitive powers and rights so well,
Though men and angels fell.
Of all material lives the highest place
To you is justly given,
And ways and walks the nearest heaven.
Cow ey,

Whose household words are songs in many keys,

Sweeter than instrument of man e’er caught;

Whose habitations in the tree-tops even

Are half-way houses on the road to heaven.
LonGFELLow,

T have often reflected with surprise on the diversity of the means
for producing music with insects, and still more with birds. We thus
get a high idea of the importance of song in the animal kingdom.

Darwin.

Many kyndes of voyces are in the world, ande none off them with-
out significacion. — Tyndall’s trans. of 2 Cor. xiv. 10.

EDITOR'S PREFACE.

HIS collection of New England bird-songs was begun
when the author was in his sixty-seventh year, and
left. unfinished when, the tenth of May, 1890, he passed
suddenly away, being two years beyond his threescore
and ten. It is a record of the pastime of an old lover of
the birds, of a musician who counted it among his chief
joys that he had lived thirty summers in a bird-haunted
grove, — of one to whom the voices of the wood and field
were as familiar as those of his own family. The inten-
tion was to write a book for the young people of New
England, many of whom he had taught the rudiments of
vocal music. The volume was to be made up of bird-
songs and observations on the domestic animals, with
special reference to their several forms of utterance. Some-
thing was also to be said of the music of inanimate things.
The thought came too late ; and it remains for the present
writer — not unacquainted with his father’s work and
wishes — to gather together such fragments as were to
be found.
Brief, imperfect as the record is, it may yet have value
if, written without apprenticeship in the endeavors of exact
‘knowledge, it accord here and there with the conclusions

vi EDITOR'S PREFACE.

of science. Strange as it may seem in one that loved
Nature so well, the author read but four authorities on
the birds, — Audubon, Wilson, the first part of Stearns’s
“New England Bird Life,” edited by Dr. Coues, and
Minot’s “ Land and Game Birds of New England ;” and
none of these were taken up until more than half the work
here presented was done. The position is individual, iso-
lated ; hence it has been thought advisable to prepare an
appendix of expression from those more or wholly at
home in the delightful field through which our author
strolled, when the mood was on, innocently absorbed,
oblivious to the brilliant company before him and on
either side.

Pliny tells how, by mixing the blood of certain birds, a .
serpent was produced, which eaten of, enabled one to un-
derstand what the birds said; and it is possible that this
old simple-hearted, rustic singing-master nibbled deeply
enough into the inspiring serpent to interest not only
the lover of natural things but those with whom it was
not his lot to mingle, — his learned contemporaries. At
any rate, he has spoken in his own native way, and his
brief message may be audible, if for no other reason, be-
cause of the “over-faint quietness” both here and abroad.
While wanting certain accessory qualifications for his
pleasure-task, our author had this prime requisite, —
music was as natural to him, had as much meaning for
him, as words. Sound was as much to him as sight.
It was his habit to name the pitch, and to dwell on
the quality, of any sound he might hear from things
animate or inanimate. His test of a poem was the

EDITOR’S PREFACE. vii

character of the tones it set ringing in his mind. Music
was the standard. In addition to this, and hardly less
important, his heart and brain were full of youth and
enthusiasm; he stood to the last before both man and
Nature, decided in his likes and dislikes, hearty in his
love and hatred, eager and joyous — and wayward — as a
boy. “My threescore and ten are numbered,” he writes
on his birthday, “but for the life of me I can’t feel old,
can’t think old.” Such, in a word, was the reporter of
the “ Wood Notes Wild ;” and the only justification of his
work that he cared to make was characteristically simple,
— “A little bird told me so.”

As before stated, it has been sought, by means of an
appendix, to supplement the record of the birds the songs
of which are presented, and to point to such information
on the general subject of bird music as might prove acces-
sible, —the matter being drawn from both scientific and
popular sources. Few supplementary notations of bird
songs appear, for the reason that they are not easy to
find. Indeed, two hundred letters sent to ornithologists
and librarians of this country and of Europe, in addition
to no little personal research, indicate that there are not
many such notations in existence. Dr. F. Granauer, of
K. K. Universitits-Bibliothek, Vienna, writes that none
are to be found in that library either in books or peri-
odicals; while Dr. Golz, of Berlin, writes: “What your
Audubon, Wilson, and others say with reference to the
bird-songs has not been excelled in Germany. What we
have is in Brehm’s ‘Gefangene Vogel.” Brehm’s work
contains no notations.

Vili EDITOR’S PREFACE.

Librarian F. Thomae, University Library of Tiibingen,
writes that the only work on bird music known to him
is Landois’s “Thierstimmen.” Dr. Russ, of Berlin, writes
a little more encouragingly, saying that there are a few
notations of bird-songs scattered through “Die gefiederte
Welt,” a periodical at present under his direction. After
this report from music-loving, nature-loving, studious
Germany, there is little hope of help elsewhere.

The editor, no more of an ornithologist and much less
of a musician than the author, cannot hope that he has
steered clear of error; he hopes only for the general
judgment that the work were better done crudely than
not at all. A most grateful acknowledgment is made
to the many authors, editors, publishers, and proprietors
whose names appear, in connection with their several
contributions, in the index and in the list at the end of
the volume.

JOHN VANCE CHENEY.
San Francisco,
December 29, 1891.

FACSIMILE AND TRANSCRIPT.

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CONTENTS.

INTRODUCTION «6 + ee se ee ee ee es
Biuesirp (Sialia sialis) 2 6 6 6 6 0 ee ee ws
Rosin (Turdus migratorius) . . . 6 6 1 ee ew
Sone-spaRRow (Melospiza melodia) . « 1 1 + se @
CHICKADEE (Parus atricapillus) . . « 6 6 1 8 © oo
WHitE-BELLIED NutHatcu (Sitta Carolinensis) . .. .
GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER; FLICKER (Colapies auratus)
Meapow Lark (Sturnellamagna) « «+ « + «© # @ »
Fretp Sparrow (Spizella pusilla). . 2 «2 1 ew es
Linnet; Purpte Fincn; Purpte Grosseak (Carpodacus
purpureus). 1. 6 6 © © © ee we ee
YELLOw-BIRD ; AMERICAN GOLDFINCH (Chrysomitris tristis)
Curprinc SpaRROW (Spizella socialis) . . 2. + 1 ee
WH8HITE-THROATED SPARROW (Zonotrichia albicollis) . . .
Fox-coLorep Sparrow (Passerella iliaca) . . » « ss
CuEewink ; TowsEee Buntinc; Grovunp Rosin (Pipilo
erythrophthalmus) . « © 6 6 + «© © © © @ we oe
YeLtow WaRBLER (Dendroica estiva) . « + + + s
BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER (Dendroica virens)
AMERICAN WARBLERS (Sylvicolide). . . s+ + « « +
Repstarr (Setophaga ruticilla). . 6 + 6 6 ee we we
CatT-BIRD (Mimus Carolinensis). . . 6 6 6 «© «© «© © «
Brown TurvusH; Brown ToHrasHer (Harporhynchus rufus)
Woop Turusa; Sone Taruse (Turdus mustelinus). . .

40

xiv CONTENTS.

Tawny Turuss; Witson’s Torus; VEERY (Turdus

Juscescens) . . ‘ eG ee Ww te wa
Hermit Tarvusi (Turdus pullass) eee A et Me
OVEN-BIRD ; GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR (Seiurus auro-

capillus) «= 6 &@ S & oH @ ew we ww ae
Woop-PEWEE (Contopus virens) . . - » » » » » « o
Tue Nigut-wawk (Chordeiles Virginianus) . . ... .
WHIPPOORWILL (Anirostomus vociferus) . . . . « » « «
BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Icterus Baltimore). . 1. . 2...
ScarLteT TAaNAGER (Pyranga rubra). . . 1. 2. ew
RosE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (Goniaphea Ludoviciana). . .
RED-EYED ViREO (Vireo olivaceus) . . . 2. 2 2 see
YELLOW-BREASTED CuatT (Icteria viridis). . . «
Bosouink (Dolichonyz oryzivorus). . . 1. - «se we
INDIGo-BIRD (Cyanospiza cyanea) . . . oo se Wee a, OE
BLACK-BILLED Cuckoo (Coccygus siebnoyshetilieis as es 3
YELLOW-BILLED Cuckoo (Coccygus Americanus) . .. .
Quart; Bos WnitE (Ortyx Virginianus). . . . 1...
Rurrep Grouse; PartripGe; Parasant (Bonasa umbellus)
Great NorrHern Diver; Loon (Colymbus torquatus) . .
Great Hornep Ow. (Bubo Virginianus). . . 2 2 6
Mortritep Ow.; ScREECH-owL (Scopsasio) . . . . «+
HEN) MUSIC). we a ai a RR ER ap

APPENDIX .... OTR AS ee Rp. ep aah 2S olde. Ge
Various Geracionat or THE Music oF Nature . .
BiBLi0GRAPHY «4% 8 ee 6 ee Oe we we
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . 6 + 1 6 + © © © wo

INDEX. @ goa 3 wR eS ee Boe a we ww we ee

PAGE

58
59

62
64
66
68
71
74
76
78
79
82
85
87
89
90
92
95
98
100
104

113
205
229
241

245

INTRODUCTION.

GoME six years ago, when I began to prepare this
little collection of the songs of the more common
birds of New England, I anticipated many difficulties ;
and they have been realized. The singing season is brief,
and no one locality will suffice. Again, when one is so
fortunate as to find a bird long sought, he may not sing;
and if he does, the next moment he may fly beyond
hearing or finding. Besides, it requires several repeti-
tions of a song to insure accuracy in the copy; and the
song of to-day may be so varied to-morrow as to be
hardly recognizable. Another difficulty, well worthy of
mention, is the newness of the field. At the time I took
down my first song I had no knowledge of any person
in America who had made the attempt; and thus far I
have found no hint that has been of service to me.
Fifty years’ experience as a singing-master has taught
me that there is nothing people think so much of, pay so
much money for, and still know so little about, as music.
Most emphatically may this, save the money clause, be
affirmed of the music of Nature. However thoroughly
1

2 WOOD NOTES WILD.

the birds are considered in every other point, when we
come to their music, — that is, to the very life, the spirit,
—we must take our choice between silence and error.
A modern English writer says, for example, “There is
no music in Nature, neither melody nor harmony.”
What is melody but a succession of simple sounds dif-
fering in length and pitch? How then can it be said
that bird-songs are not melodies? And if melodies,
that they are not music? A melody may be of greater
or less length. I think we shall find that the little
bird-songs are melodies, contaming something of all we
know of melody, and more too; and this in most ex-
quisite forms.

The writer just quoted observes further that “the cuc-
koo, who often sings a true third and sometimes a sharp
third or even a fourth, is the nearest approach to music
in Nature.” I am not sure how it is in England, but
with us the cuckoo’s skill is slight for so wide a reputa-
tion. Of all the songs of our birds, his song has per-
haps the least melody. It is as monotonous as it is
protracted, hugging the tonic all the way, save an occa-
sional drop of a minor second, the smallest interval in
our scale. The cuckoo of New England never sings a
third of any kind.

“No music in Nature”! The very mice sing; the
toads, too; and the frogs make “music on the waters.”
The summer grass about our feet is alive with little
musicians.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 3

“The songs of Nature never cease,
Her players sue not for release.
In nearer fields, on hills afar,
Attendant her musicians are:
From water brook or forest tree,
For aye comes gentle melody,
The very air is music blent —
An universal instrument.”

Even inanimate things have their music. Listen to
the water dropping from a faucet into a bucket partially
filled : —

T have been delighted with the music of a door as it
swung lazily on its hinges, giving out charming tones
resembling those of a bugle in the distance, forming
pleasing melodic strains, interwoven with graceful slides

4 WOOD NOTES WILD.

and artistic touches worthy of study and imitation.
Awakened by the fierce wind of a winter night, I have
heard a common clothes-rack whirl out a wild melody in
the purest intervals : —

ne t fe S om a a Bs

=_ f = = at f —j
eS t 1 1 i L i ii}
“No music in Nature”! Surely the elements have

never kept silence since this ball was set swinging
through infinite space in tune with the music of the
spheres. Their voices were ever sounding in combative
strains, through fire and flood, from the equator to the
poles, innumerable ages before the monsters of sea and
earth added their bellowings to the chorus of the uni-
verse. From the hugest beast down to the smallest
insect, each creature with its own peculiar power of
sound, we come, in their proper place, upon the birds,
not in their present dress of dazzling beauty, and singing
their matchless songs, but with immense and uncouth
bodies perched on two long, striding legs, with voices to
match those of many waters and the roar of the tempest.
We know that in those monstrous forms were hidden the
springs of sweet song and the germs of beautiful plumage;
but who can form any idea of the slow processes, — of the
long, long periods of time that Nature has taken in her
progressive work from the first rude effort up to the
present perfection? So far as the song is concerned, the
hoarse thunderings of the elements, the bellowings of the
monsters of both land and water, the voices of things
animate and inanimate,—all must be forced, age on to

age, through her grand music crucible, and the precious
essence given to the birds.

Though the birds expressed themselves vocally ages
before there were human ears to hear them, it is hardly to
be supposed that their early singing bore much resem-
blance to the bird music of to-day. It is not at all likely
that on some fine morning, too far back for reckoning, the
world was suddenly and for the first time flooded with
innumerable bird songs, and that ever since birds have
sung as they then sang and as they sing now. There
were no reporters to tell us when the birds began to sing,
but the general history of human events chronicles the
interest with which birds and bird-singing have been
regarded by the nations of the past, leaving us to infer
that when men and birds became acquainted, the birds
were already singing.

It would seem, then, that our bird music is a thing of
growth, and of very slow growth. The tall walkers and
squawkers having gradually acquired the material ma-
chinery for song, and the spirit of song being pent up
within them, they were ultimately compelled to make
music, to sing.

Dare we hazard a few crude conjectures as to the
details of this growth? Every musical student is aware
that there are certain tones which, if produced at the
same moment, harmonize, merge one into another, with
most pleasing effect. Our scale of eight tones represents
the order of intervals throughout the whole realm of

6 WOOD NOTES WILD.

sound; and the most natural combination of tones in it
is the common chord, consisting of three tones, one, three,
and five, forming two intervals, a major third and a minor
third, which together make a fifth. These three tones are
more readily appreciated by the uneducated ear than the
regular order of tones in the scale. Players on the old-
fashioned keyless bugles could play them, with their
octaves perhaps, and nothing else; and boys can play
them on long dry milk-weed stalks. I have been sur-
prised at the readiness with which dull-eared boys learn
to tune the strings of a violin, which are the interval of
a fifth apart, while they are slow to determine the inter-
vening tones. One and five of the scale, then, have the
strongest affinity, the one for the other, of any two tones
in it.

Now, after the “flight of ages,” when the birds had
emerged from the state of monstrosity, each raw singer
having chanted continuously his individual tonic, there
came a time when they must take a long step forward
and enter the world of song. In the vast multitude of
feathered creatures there must have been an endless
variety of forms and sizes, and a proportionate variety
in the pitch and quality of their voices. Day to day,
year to year, each bird had heard his fellows squall,
squawk, screech, or scream their individual tones, till
in due time he detected here and there in the tremen-
dous chorus certain tones that had a special affinity for
his own. This affinity, strengthened by endless repeti-
tions, at last made an exchange of tones natural and easy.
Suppose there were two leading performers, the key of

one being G, and the key of the other being D, a fifth
above G, what could have been more natural than for
these two voices to unite, either on D or G, or both, and
to vibrate into one? This accomplished, the bondage of
monotony and chaos was broken forever, and progress
assured; the first strain of the marvellous harmony of the
future was sounded, the song of the birds was begun.
One can almost hear those rude, rising geniuses exercising
their voices with increased fervor, vibrating from one to
five and five to one of the scale,— pushing on up the glad
way of liberty and melody. With each vibration from
one to five and from five to one, the leading tone of the
scale, the other member of the common chord, which so
affinitizes with one and five, was passed over. The next
step was to insert this tone, which being done, the em-
ployment of the remaining tones was simply a matter of
time. So it was, to my notion, that the birds learned to
sing.

To say that the music of the birds is similar in struc-
ture to our own, is not to say that they use no intervals
less than our least. They do this, and I am well aware
that not all of their music can be written. Many of
their rhythmical and melodic performances are difficult
of comprehension, to say nothing of committing them
to paper. The song of the bobolink is an instance in
point. Indeed, one cannot listen to any singing-bird
without hearing something inimitable and indescribable.
Who shall attempt a description of the ¢remolo in the
song of the meadow lark, the graceful shading and sliding
of the tones of the thrushes? But these ornaments, be

8 WOOD NOTES WILD.

they never so profuse, are not the sum and substance of
bird-songs; and it is in the solid body of the song that
we find the relationship to our own music. The songs of
many of the birds may be detected as readily as the mel-
odies of “Ortonville” and “Rock of Ages.” In passing, one
morning last summer, I heard a chewink sing the first
strain of the beautiful old conference-meeting tune last
named. Though I have never heard any other chewink
sing that strain, it was a chewink that sang then, afford-
ing startling proof of the variation in the singing of the
same birds, The chickadees sing a few long tones in the
most deliberate manner; and nothing this side of heaven
is purer. I do not refer to their chick-a-dee-dee-dee chat,
though they sometimes connect that with their singing,
The chickadee and the wood-pewee have the most devout —
of all the shi I have heard.

We all know how eee and 1 distinctly the little
whistling, white-throated sparrow sings his song, and how
the tiny black-throated green warbler sends out his few
white notes of cheer from among the dark pines.

Conjecture as we may concerning the growth and de-
velopment of birds and bird-songs, we know that the
birds now sing in a wonderful manner, using all the
intervals of the major and minor scales in perfection of
intonation, with a purity of voice and finish of execution,
with an exquisiteness of melody, a magnetic and spiritual
charm appurtenant to no other music on earth. The
horse neighs, the bull bellows, the lion roars, the tiger

growls, the world is full of vocal sounds; only the
birds sing. They are Nature’s finest artists, whose lives
and works are above the earth. They have not learned
of us; it is our delight to learn of them. To no other
living things are man’s mind and heart so greatly in-
debted. Myriads of these beautiful creatures, journeying
thousands of miles over oceans and continents, much of .
the way by night —to avoid murderers !— return, unfail-
ing as the spring, prompt even to the day and hour, to
build their cunning nests and rear their young in our
orchards and door-yards, to delight us with their beauty
and grace of movement, and above, far above, all, to
pour over the world the glory of their song. He that
hath ears to hear, let him hear.

BLUEBIRD.

SIALIA SIALIS.

UR first two spring visitors are the bluebird and
the robin, the bluebird invariably coming first.
The following are the principal features of the blue-
bird’s songs as I took them, from time to time, last
season.
Early on the morning of the 17th of March my ear
caught his first far, faint, but sweet notes.

peck fol

=a

Hear me, hear me.

The weather was cold, and I heard no more for several
days; but on the morning of the 25th one made bold to
come into the orchard, where he appeared to feel quite at
home. Though it was still cold, his pure, soft notes held
me within hearing for half an hour, during which time
some of his morning talk (the music of a bluebird is
often quite as much like talking as like singing) was
secured,

12 WOOD NOTES WILD.

The next morning I heard him sing simply, —

3.

f

Che-way che-chute.

The morning of the 28th being rainy, I feared I should see
no birds, but by 9 o’clock the clouds began to vanish, and
suddenly there were three species within four rods of my
window,—a flock of snow-birds, a white-breasted nut-
hatch, and the bluebird. The latter lit upon the stump
of a small plum-tree, when white-breast lit upon the
side of the stump and began to dart up and down
and around, below him. The bluebird was evidently
puzzled at his friend’s eccentric movements. Shifting
quickly from point to point, he would peer over in a
very quizzical and comical manner, as much as to say,
“How do you do that?” It was a pretty pantomime ;
and though no music was added to my notes, I was
grateful for the call. When the silent birds took to
the air and left me alone again, I could not but exclaim,
“ How beautiful are birds, and where is the match for the
blue of the bluebird!”

Thus far the bluebird sang in the key of D minor,
I afterward heard him sing in several keys, as here
represented : —

WOOD NOTES WILD. 13

In these examples, the bluebird uses the minor key
altogether: we have him in four positions of it. The
fact that he sings in the minor key may partly explain
the tenderness characterizing his song; but undoubtedly
the plaintive quality of his tone is the more important
factor. The written songs of the bluebird and the robin
might lead one to conclude that their performance would
produce much the same effect, but on hearing them the
contrast is striking.

ROBIN.

TURDUS MIGRATORIUS.

AST season the robin was five days behind the blue-

bird. The first note I heard from him proved

him a magician; the sound of his voice, filling the air

with joy, spread a glow of instantaneous happiness over

the morning landscape. Perched on the topmost twig

of a tall maple, I had only time to lift my hat when
he saluted me with,

This he repeated two or three times with martial ardor
and precision; then with his parting

Lit, Mt, Hit, lit, lit.

and with a flirt of his tail at each note, he left the grove.
He flew high, scorning the earth, and did not return till
evening. Then he did not sing; it was only,

fy 3
>

4.
p— rm

aan T
er v

Lit, lit, Ut, leu, leu.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 15

The effect was that of a call, but there was no answer.
Soon he called again louder, with more rapid notes, giving
another interval : —

f A
AIT x ca ¥ u

Lit, lit, lit, lit, lit, leu, leu, leu.

The next morning he again appeared on the same twig,
and called, “ Lit, lit, lit,’ to which a bluebird promptly
responded, —-

,#

ia Z 7 i ¥v a u

Chee - 00 - wy, chee - 00 - wy.

and a nuthatch rattled away merrily at them both, —

f). 2 9. aN
iad v Hal
{ t = iv

ca i a

I +
wi = ad
=

van

y
Ab

To
Li

yer
Te:

i
\- a |

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

~

wait, wait, wait. Ick - y, ick - y, ick - y.

Some two weeks passed before the morning songs proper
began, my first record being made May 5. On that morn-
ing before light, I was out, and within a few feet of a
robin that struck up his song in a small pear-tree, not
more than ten feet from the ground. On this occasion I
settled one point; namely, that the robin frequently sings
other notes than those heard. He has a habit of, as it
were, closing his mouth between strains, and making
muffled, indistinct tones — an imperfect echo, or better,

16 WOOD NOTES WILD.

a burlesque repetition. The effect is humorous; for he
seems to be shyly ridiculing his performance as he
goes along, for his own private enjoyment. This after-
effort, not intended for the public, is usually pitched at
the top of his voice, so high that his voice often breaks,
when the result is truly ludicrous. I am convinced that
many times when we think the robin is resting between
strains, he is busying himself in the manner described.
His song on this occasion ran, —

May 6, at 4 P. m., there were signs of rain, and red-
breast. seemed to be unusually inspired. He sang with
great spirit, —

While at my work, May 8,I heard him introducing

WOOD NOTES WILD. 17

new “kinks” in his vocal twistings. He repeated them
many times, almost to tiresomeness. They were, —

The morning of the 14th opened rainy, but the drops
did not stop the concert of the birds. On putting my
head out to catch the first of it, a pewee was singing,

=a: Fj
=

Pe - wee, pe - wee.

and a robin defied the shower in good set terms : —

Whether he meant to sing in E major or minor, I did not
decide.

May 23 I was awake before 2 o’clock A. M., and all
was still; not even a frog peeped. At the first faint com-
ing of light the rooster crowed; and in about half an
hour I heard the first bird-notes, the robin’s. At this
hour the robin does not burst into full song, but begins
with a subdued twitter, which rapidly opens and attunes
his throat for the splendid moment when, yielding him-
self to the fresh gladness, he puts forth all his power.
The present performance was in a little maple close by
my window, where, undoubtedly, he had spent the night.
His song was, —

2

18 WOOD NOTES WILD.

There is no mistake about this being in the major
key, and a bit of choice melody. Delivered, as it was,
with delightful animation, the effect was cheering to the
last degree. Other voices joined, and immediately there
was a grand chorus, in which, much to my amusement,
the frogs and toads, silent up to this time, took a lively
part, not to be outdone by the whole choiring hosts of
orioles, catbirds, pewees, sparrows, and other feathered
rivals. The only fault with the performance was its
brevity ; in a few minutes all was silent as before. The
robin sings more hours than almost any other bird. His
songs are short and he repeats them many times, but he
is by no means stereotyped in his forms; indeed, he is
fair at extemporizing when the mood takes him. A com-
mendable variety will be discovered in the annexed
melodies.

19

WOOD NOTES WILD.

12, June5, 4 P.M.

13, At evening.

Just at dark.

17.

20 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Chick-y ick-y chick-y eu, Chick-y ick -y chick-y eu.

21, Sept. a1, cold and rainy. a
2. a.

—f2-
cys z= iad 1 ind ri

re
a

oe, 02, oe, up, Up, Up.

From these examples it will be seen that bird-music is
akin to our own; the same intervals are used, those of
the major and minor keys. No.7 brings to mind the
first half of an old melody sung by the spinning-girls fifty
years ago, as a substitute for counting, while reeling
yarn: —

{or it a. mY x Js —
TAB Ly ty HY a rs iw = sw t ra
Ae a a i nw Bi #2 ‘_. @- mf ri ia ‘_. ca ‘a.
Zz = | 2 q 74 2 @
3
All a- long, all a - long, all a- long, all a = long,

—fh-b.

) ome sass rv iY ity
f, hh t. me 1 Se si AY nat pa ii]
f-—-f 1s f { =| z f i fH

a f a z a 2 * Hi
4 r ~e
all @ - long, all @ - long link -tum oo.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 21

Who is the plagiarist ?

The majority of singing-birds make free use of triplets ;
the robins abound in them. They are generally separated
by brief rests; but in some instances two or three triplets
are given without rests, as in Nos. 13 and 16.

The robins sing throughout the summer, their in-
cessant repetitions frequently becoming tiresome. They
take the lead at the opening of the season, and hold it.
Every morning they begin the concert, and are the prin-
cipal performers; indeed, they seem to feel competent to
make up the entire choir, if necessary. They are by no
means our best singers, but were we deprived of them,
we should miss their songs more than those of any other
bird. They are the most social and domestic of all the
migrating birds, belonging to the farm almost as much
as do the hens and chickens. They come early and
stay late; and after they are supposed to be gone for
good, if you have a nice mountain ash, hanging thick
with clusters of beautiful red berries,—the very gem
of all outdoor ornaments at this season,— some very
windy day a cloud of robins will swoop down upon
it, when nothing will save it. In mitigation of his
offence, I am willing to believe that the robin does
not think himself a robber, but simply a high-handed
taker of what he has earned by long service of song,
the “provender of praise.”

September 21, a cold, rainy day, when no other bird
was to be seen, I heard a robin exclaim,—

ri

L t t'*#
t tad 2 £ et mn fi
wy rw z fat ff.
i 2 ye 1 i z 2. —ii
is 2. is}

22 WOOD NOTES WILD.

He spoke with much decision and independence, as
much as to say, “Iam alone, but can take care of my-
self!” It is a point worth noticing that the farewell of
the robin is very similar in style to his first salute in the
spring.

The last I saw of the robins they were collecting, at
early morning, in the small trees and bushes about a pond
near the grove. Very brisk, both in voice and movement,
their main notes were: —

SONG-SPARROW.
MELOSPIZA MELODIA.

0 lice sparrow family is a large one. There may be
twenty species, half of which, at least, spend the
summer in New England. The song-sparrows are the
most numerous; they sing the most, and exhibit the
greatest variety of melody. Standing near a small pond
recently, I heard a song-sparrow sing four distinct songs
within twenty minutes, repeating each several times.

I have more than twenty songs of this sparrow, and
have heard him in many other forms. He generally
gives a fine trill at the beginning or end of his song.
Sometimes, however, it is introduced in the middle, and

24 WOOD NOTES WILD.

occasionally is omitted, especially in the latter part of
the season. There is a marked difference in the quality
and volume of the voices of different individuals, Dur-
ing the season of 1885 I listened almost daily to the
strongest and best sparrow voice that I have ever heard.
There was a fulness and richness, particularly in the
trills, that reminded one of the bewitching tones of the
wood-thrush. These are some of his songs : —

_——————
ae ene ik

WOOD NOTES WILD. 95

2b : |
re + 2+ fs fe ft ew
ae ee ee

a a

—_—_——S=_= ==
3 - _ oe ae ee eee "aoe
eee: ee eee ee

tele iz 2 r rt 2 2 Lol

It will not do to say that the singers of any species
sing exactly alike, with the same voice and style, and
always in the same key. There is a wide difference
between the singing of old and young birds. This is

26 WOOD NOTES WILD.

especially true of the oriole, the tanager, and the bobolink.
The voice of a bird four years old is very much fuller and
better than that of a yearling; just as his plumage is
deeper and richer in color.

The song-sparrow comes soon after the bluebird and
the robin, and sings from the time of his coming till the
close of summer. Unlike his cousin, the field-sparrow,
he seems to seek the companionship of man. Sitting
near an open window one day last summer, as was my
habit, my attention was attracted by the singing of a
song-sparrow perched upon a twig not far away. Fancy-
ing that he addressed himself to me individually, I re-
sponded with an occasional whistle. He listened with
evident interest, his head on one side and his eye rolled
up. For many days in succession he came at about the
same hour in the afternoon, and perching in the same
place sang his cheery and varied songs, listening in turn
to my whistles.

CHICKADEE.

PARUS ATRICAPILLUS.

T was a fortunate meeting of extremes when Emerson

found the titmouse in the winter forest, for he went

home and put his little friend on paper so surely that he
can never fly away : —

“ Here was this atom in full breath,
Hurling defiance at vast death ;
This scrap of valor just for play
Fronts the north wind in waistcoat gray,
As if to shame my weak behavior.”

The chickadees make very free with us in frosty weather ;
coming about our homes, they help themselves without
question. If driven from the bit of meat hung up to
“keep” in the cold, they utter a few “chick-a-dee-dee-
dees,” and fall to again as if nothing had happened. The
“ chickadee” notes, however, are their chat, not their song,
though sometimes the song immediately follows.

One clear, cold March morning before sunrise, I was
greeted with two tones,

é Ear - ly.

They thrilled me; never were purer tones heard on

earth. Presently they were repeated, when I discovered

28 WOOD NOTES WILD.

a pair of chickadees on a limb of a small tree. The
song came from one of them; and when he shot up and
away, he left me with a new understanding of the value
of purity of tone. Nearly all small birds sing rapidly,
too rapidly for appreciative hearing; but this little song-
ster somehow has found out that one pure minim is
worth a whole strain of staccato demi-semi-quavers.

The chickadees sometimes employ a delightful form of
response in their singing : —

WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH.
SITTA CAROLINENSIS.

HIS is the bird that stays with us, clings to his

native woods; summer and winter he is at home.
During one long, very cold winter a member of this
family was one of my most intimate, constant, and im-
portant friends. No degree of cold could daunt him.
Early in the morning his sharp, rapid, merry notes would
lend life to the grove: —

7 ry >.
- 2 od .
i
z

t
na o a t ri
SS i :

om |
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

mh
>

N
rTe
akg
tre

LM
Se

—p Tl
¢ 14 ¢ =) r = 1

=
CAS f F f Pee =
on "1 =H # vu $

f ff -
Wait, wait, wait. Ick - y, ick - y, ick - y.

5

GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKEER;
FLICKER.

COLAPTES AURATUS.

HE loud, monotonous vocalizing of this handsome

bird is hardly song; still we often hear it said,

“The woodwall is singing, we are going to have rain.”

The two-toned “rain-call” is his song, if he have one.

The performance is long enough for a song, but rather
narrow.

Ores - © = © = © COM = = © = = © «
——- 7 —

Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet,

- 2 = = «© = doo dim - + = © © = in
ff ft tt

tI v1 i ms — 7] og vs 7] 7) ¢ 7]
ee 3 —z 2 — — ae iz

Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet,

‘Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet.

If the cuckoo, whose song is so famous, can be called a
singer, this woodpecker is a songster; for he performs

WOOD NOTES WILD. 31

oftener, longer, and louder, than the cuckoo, using the
same melodic variety of a minor second, which is the
least possible.

The golden-wings are geniuses at a frolic. When two
or more of them are together they have a brisk chase of it
round and up the trunks of the great trees and out on the
big limbs, crying, —

» [= [> f= [=
im z. = Hh
¥ t ¥ + ¥ ty - o H
Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up.

We have no true singing-bird so large as this wood-
pecker.

The bright hues of the tanager and the oriole may
attract the eye quicker than his, but no other of our birds
displays the whole world of color in every conceivable
combination. These birds are frequenters of meadows
and pastures; they like to be on the ground and to dig in
it. When they rise, they swing away through the air in
great billowy lines of indescribable grace. Wilson takes
much pains in describing the ingenuity and perseverance
of these birds in digging out their nests. “I have seen,”
he says, “where they have dug first five inches straight
forward, and then downward more than twice that dis-
tance, through a solid black oak.” He further states that
they work “till a very late hour in the evening, thumping
like carpenters;” also that “the male and female work
alternately.”

The golden-winged woodpecker has many surprises in
store for them that do not know him. It will be some-

32 WOOD NOTES WILD.

what startling when he simply calls the roll of his
names : —

Golden-winged Woodpecker. Harry Wicket.

High Hole. Flicker.
‘Woodwall. Hittock.
Yucker. Piut.

Wake-Up. Yarrup.

Yellow Hammer.

The natives about Hudson’s Bay call him Ou-thee-
quan-nor-ow.

MEADOW LARK.

STURNELLA MAGNA.

IKE the partridge, the meadow lark has favorite
places of resort, where he stands and sings or
keeps silent, as the mood takes him. His flight also
resembles that of the partridge and of the quail. Prob-
ably our largest singing-bird, his voice is neither loud
nor deep, some of the tones being rather sharp and
weak. He lacks the vocal power of the robin, and of
the oriole, a bird of not more than half his size;
still his music is very charming. Wilson, comparing
him with the skylark, says, “In richness of plumage,
as well as sweetness of voice (as far as his few notes
extend), he stands eminently his superior.” ;
The meadow lark’s song is essentially tender and plain-
tive. In the early dewy morning and toward evening,
he will stand a long time upon a stump, a large rock, or
rock-heap, singing at intervals little snatches of melody ;
occasionally, like the oriole and the king-fisher, giving
his “ low, rapid, chattering” monotones. It is a favorite
pastime with him to repeat four tones many times in
succession, with rests intervening : —

34 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Sometimes he will add to them: —

On

Saal

These fragmentary strains, when connected, form an
original and interesting song.

Now and then there is an exquisite, subtile tremor in
the tones of this singer, no more to be described than
the odor of arose. It somewhat resembles that in the
tones of the Wilson thrush as he trembles along down
to the close of his quivering, silvery song.

Song of the meadow lark : —

as i ' a los
6 I T i.
! Se
= ———
OL i~ fol
£4, 5 ri]
£Abkh Ez i we —1 ri - = CT
IF + Y al —f "2 if . rat i= £
a — — —
At fay fal fay
=
joe iid i t t i ie

FIELD-SPARROW.
SPIZELLA PUSILLA.

HIS sparrow, less common than the song or the
chipping sparrow, resembles these in appearance

and habits. He is not so social, preferring the fields and
pastures and bushy lots. When Wilson wrote, “None of
our birds have been more imperfectly described than the
family of the finch tribe usually called sparrows,” he
wrote well; but when he wrote of this one, “It has no
song,” he brought himself under his own criticism. And
when Dr. Coues, on the contrary, describes him as “very
melodious, with an extensive and varied score to sing
from,” and further, as possessing “unusual compass of
vocal powers,” he much better describes the song sparrow.
The field sparrow is surely a fine singer, and he may
have several songs. I have heard him in one only;
but that one, though short, it would be hard to equal.
As a scientific composition it stands nearly if not quite
alone. Dr. Coues quotes Mr. Minot on the singing of
this bird. “They open with a few exquisitely modu-
lated whistles, each higher and a little louder than
the preceding, and close with a sweet trill.” The
song does begin with two or three well-separated tones,
—or “whistles,” if you please,— but I discover no mod-
ulation, nor is each higher than the preceding, the open-

36 WOOD NOTES WILD.

ing tones being on the same pitch. However, the song
increases, both in power and rapidity, from beginning
to end. It by no means requires “unusual compass,” —
simply the interval of a minor third.

When we consider the genius displayed in combining
so beautifully the three grand principles of sound, —
length, pitch, and power, — its brevity and limited com-
pass make it all the more wonderful. Scarcely anything
in rhythmics and dynamics is more difficult than to give
a perfect accelerando and crescendo; and the use of the
chromatic scale by which the field sparrow rises in his
lyric flight involves the very pith of melodic ability.
This little musician has explored the whole realm of
sound, and condensed its beauties in perfection into one
short song.

Cres- = i te
a a, ee 2

> cr s&s = ww = & z
pfs vp ehetise
i ee —

—
Accelerando et crescendo,

LINNET; PURPLE FINCH; PURPLE
GROSBEAK.

CARPODACUS PURPUREUS.

se Des linnet (this is the popular name) is a very
spirited and charming singer, especially during the
mating season. A careful observer tells me he has seen
him fly from the side of his mate directly upward fifteen
or twenty feet, singing every instant in the most excited
manner till he dropped to the point of starting. The
yellow-breasted chat has a like performance, and so has
the woodcock.

The linnet’s style of singing is a warble, but his song
is not short like the songs of the warblers; it is often
a protracted extemporizing, difficult to represent.

Some of the notes of the linnet: —

Rapid and spirited. ,

38 WOOD NOTES WILD.

The linnet has been described as “red” and also as
“purple,” but really he seems to be neither. He has a
reddish back and neck, and his head is almost red. The
female has no red in her complexion. The linnets are
social, building in our orchards, oftener in the evergreens.
They are kind and peaceful birds, yet ever ready to
avenge an insult to the death.

The males do not reach their full plumage till the
second or third year. If caged, after the first moulting in
their confinement the wild colors do not return; the
reddish tint is exchanged for a yellowish cast, and so
remains.

YELLOW-BIRD ; AMERICAN GOLDFINCH.

CHRYSOMITRIS TRISTIS.

HE yellow-birds, frequenters of our door-yards and
gardens, are of all birds the gentlest-mannered.

With their heads crowned with black caps, their yellow
bodies, black wings and tails, they are dainty, high-bred
visitors. When singing in chorus, as is their habit, their
soft warblings are expressive of great delight. In their
most characteristic song, of only four notes, they are
stronger-voiced, singing with distinctness and moderation.
This song is performed while on the wing, and is all the
more charming because of the touch of sadness that it
has for the sensitive listener. The flight of the yellow-
birds follows the fashion set by the woodpeckers. It is like
the riding of a boat over great billows — up — down —
up—in graceful curves, with a stroke of the wings for
each swell, to the accompaniment of the little song,—

8va.

———— |

With sweep and swing from crest to crest, the song
runs : —

CHIPPING SPARROW.

SPIZELLA SOCIALIS.

HIS trim little bird, one of the least of the spar-
rows, is not so great a singer as some others of
the family; but none of them equal him in song devotion.
At the close of day he may be heard from the house-
top, from the ridge-pole of the barn, from the fence or
the grass stubble. Dr. Coues says he has “at times a
song quite different from the sharp, monotonous trill so
characteristic of spring-time,” and without doubt he has;
but the monotonous “trill,” being a succession of rapid
tones upon the same degree, can hardly be called a
“trill.”

—p—-f..¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ 2

Chip - py, chip- py, chip py, chip - py, chip- py,

Chip - py, chip- py, chip-py, chip-py, chip - py, chip - py.

To look at these notes, it would seem impossible that
any performance: of them could be made acceptable; the
hearing of them, however, relieved by the delicate accent

WOOD NOTES WILD. 41

and fervor of the singer, never fails to touch the heart
of the listener. The chipping sparrow sings at all hours,
sometimes waking in the dead of night to perform his
staccato serenade; but the evening twilight hour is his
favorite time. If we have a vesper sparrow, it is he.

None of our birds are more social and confiding.
These sparrows come for the crumbs about the door,
and with little coaxing will light on your hand for them ;
and if there be vines over the doorway, you will be quite
likely to find the lady’s nest in them, maybe only a few
inches above your head as you go in and out. They
prefer a bush for their summer home, but I have sev-
eral times known them to build their beautiful hair-lined
nests in a heavy-boughed spruce, ten or more feet from
the ground.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW.

ZONOTRICHIA ALBICOLLIS.

AMILIAR as the song of this bird is, few listeners
suspect that it is sung by a sparrow. In an ex-
treme northern town of Vermont, I often heard the song
when a boy, but never the name of the singer; and I
have rarely heard him named since. The knowing ones
used to say the words of the song were,—

“ All day long fid-dle-in’, fid-dle-in’, fid-dle-in’”

The little twelve-toned melody of this sparrow is a
flash of inspiration — one of those lucky finds, such as
the poets have — the charm of which lies in its rhythm.

Let us look at it: —

First come three long tones of equal length, forming
together one-half of the song entire; then three clusters
of three short tones, triplets, each cluster being equal to
one of the long tones, and each of the short tones being
equal to one third of one of the long tones. How simple
the construction for so pleasing a performance!

The white-throat sings moderately and with exactness ;
singing often, and usually with several of his fellows,

WOOD NOTES WILD. 43

each piping away in a key of his own. Heedless of
pitch, striking in just as it happens, this independent
little songster sometimes finds himself at the top of his
voice and at a height of sound rarely reached by any
other bird. The whistling quality of the white-throat’s
voice and his deliberate method make his song very dis-
tinct and distinctive. The responsive singing of several
performers in the still woods (and out of them some-
times), continually introducing new keys, affords a
unique entertainment.

The form of the song already given is undoubtedly
the true one, but I once heard the following variation : —

When the season is well advanced, the singers, seem-
ingly grown weary of their song, begin to shorten it.
At first they omit the last triplets; further on they
drop the second group, then the first group, then the
third long note, till finally only the first two long notes
remain. There is a touch of the comic in this farewell
performance, as though the singer said, “There, you know
the rest.”

prea pee ee f weet as:
fs m7 a i t ot Cc t coy
CAB t H
8vuae 8 8va. — a 8va.

FOX-COLORED SPARROW.

PASSERELLA ILIACA.

HESE song-loving sparrows have sweet voices and a
pleasing song. No sparrow sings with a better
quality of tone. They reach Massachusetts, on their
journey north, generally by the tenth of April. They
come in small flocks, tame birds, and partial to the
ground. They scratch among the low bushes, often in
the fresh snow, rising frequently a few feet to sit and
sing; they also sing upon the ground. They are our
largest sparrows ; fine-looking birds, with reddish backs
somewhat like those of the brown thrush.
Song of the fox-colored sparrow : —

Je Je bt : to”m

CHEWINK; TOWHEE BUNTING ;
GROUND ROBIN.

PIPILO ERYTHROPHTHALMUS.

HE song of this sprightly, showy bird, as I have

heard him, consists of one long, loud tone on E or

D, followed by a rather soft trill on the tonic, a sixth

higher. The most striking peculiarity of the performance

at the first hearing is that unless fortunate enough to see

as well as hear the bird, one will be sure there are two
singers, one singing the long note and the other the trill:

pfetetst ta efetetetrn oe

“This species seems to have a special dislike to the
sea-coast.” So says the close observer, Wilson; but I
have found the chewink very much at home at different
points close to the sea. This bird, like many others, can
extemporize finely when the spirit moves him. For sev-
eral successive days, one season, a chewink gave me very
interesting exhibitions of the kind. He fairly revelled
in the new song, repeating it times without number.
Whether he stole it from the first strain of “Rock of
Ages” or it was stolen from him or some of his family,
is a question yet to be decided.

46 WOOD NOTES WILD.

The following is an exact copy of his variation :—

Not satisfied with this, after a time he performed still
another variation : —

Finally he became dissatisfied with his key, and “ went

up” :—

YELLOW WARBLER.

DENDROICA AESTIVA.

HE yellow warbler is a representative character,
and taken all in all, is the most interesting of the
warblers. He is beautiful, very active, and of engaging
manners. Though he may not equal in brilliancy of color
the flashing, blushing redstart, he has a charm of his own
as he moves rapidly through the green foliage, singing his
lively song. If sometimes in the bright sunlight it is
almost too sharp, like the ringing of steel, it is the best
of songs by the warblers. The yellow warblers are
numerous, haunting the orchard, and the garden in city
or country. They come early in May and spend the
summer, often raising two families. The cow-bird can-
not impose on these merry birds as safely as she can
on some others; for the lady of the house is apt to build
a deck over the hateful stranger-egg and fasten it down
in the hold to hatch and find its hatchway out as best
it may.
Like the songs of all the warblers, the song of the yel-
low warbler is brief and rapid. Though so high, it can be
heard many rods: —

BLACK-THROATED GREEN
WARBLER.

DENDROICA VIRENS.

HE richly clad black-throats, restless and almost
always singing, are nearly as numerous as the
yellow warblers. Their song is shorter, five tones, quite
as distinct and more moderately delivered. There is
something about the little song —

that inclines one to whistle it immediately on hearing it.
It seems to be given as a lesson, and if the whistler be

familiar with the old sea song, “Larboard Watch,” he
will hardly fail to discover in —

ee

“Lar board watch a - hoy!”

another instance of the similarity between bird melody
and human melody.

These charming little wide-awakes like the pine woods.
There they nest and sing; but they often visit adjoining
farms, coming close to the buildings in the fruit and
shade trees. Wherever they chance to be, there is
heard the frequent piping of their happy little strain.

AMERICAN WARBLERS.
SYLVICOLIDAE.

HE numerous little birds denominated warblers are
none of them great singers, and their several twit-
terings have a strong family resemblance. Dr. Coues,
who has more than thirty varieties in his list, well re-
marks, ‘Nearly all of our ‘warblers, in fact, are mis-
named, if we are to take the term as any indication of
proficiency in that kind of vocalization which we com-
monly call warbling.”

Chestnut-sided WARBLER. Maryland YELLOW-THROAT.
. Rita

WOOD NOTES WILD.

50

8va.

REDSTART.
SETOPHAGA RUTICILLA.

ARE is the bird in our woods as dashing as the
‘Yedstart. As he runs rapidly along the limbs
or makes his short flights in pursuit of insects, he is
perpetually spreading his gayly painted tail, shooting
flashes of fire among the green leaves. If proud of
his plumage, he seems equally proud of his song, brief
and monotonous as it is, and borrowed (perhaps) from
his cousin, the yellow warbler: —

, CAT-BIRD.
MIMUS CAROLINENSIS.

HIS very common bird sings early in the morning
and a good part of the day. He has not a strong
voice, nor has he really a tune of hisown. With some-
thing of the style of the brown thrush, he is not his
equal in song. The cat-bird is generally considered a
mocking-bird. He does make use of the notes of different
birds, delivering them in snatchy, disconnected fashion ;
and his performance, on the whole, is very interesting,
given, as it is, in a lively manner, with an occasional tone
truly sweet and musical. Much of his singing, how-
ever, is mere twitter, often little more than a succession
of squeaks, too antic to be put on paper.
It is easy to trace in the cat-bird’s singing the notes of
the red-eyed vireo, the brown thrasher, the bluebird, the
robin and the yellow-breasted chat.

WOOD NOTES WILD. _ 58

The cat-bird is very active and demonstrative, espe-
cially if one approach the nest; which is commonly
found in low places near a brook, in some thicket of briars
or small bushes, or little alders, three or four feet from
the ground. The eggs are four or five in number, and
blue, very similar to the eggs of the robin.

This bird received his name doubtless from the striking
resemblance his common tone bears to certain cries of the
cat.

The cat-bird seems not to be a general favorite, but
surely he is a well-shaped bird, dressed with good taste,
too; and he plays his part well in the every-day drama of
bird life.

BROWN THRUSH; BROWN THRASHER.
HARPORHYNCHUS RUFUS.

HE song of this largest and most joyous of the
thrushes exhibits greater variety than that of any
other member of his most musical family. Despite a
lack of quality in tone, he is one of the favorites; his
fame is assured. In exuberance and peculiarity of
performance he is unsurpassed, unless it be by the cat-
bird. While prone to the conversational style, he is ca-
pable of splendid inspiration. Literary folk might term
him the “Browning” among birds. On a fine morning
in June, when he rises to the branch of a wayside
tree, or to the top of a bush at the edge of the pasture, the
first eccentric accent convinces us that the spirit of song
has fast hold on him. As the fervor increases his long
and elegant tail droops; all his feathers separate; his
whole plumage is lifted, it floats, trembles; his head is
raised and his bill wide open: there is no mistake, it is
the power of the god. No pen can report him now; we
must wait till the frenzy passes. Then we may catch
such fragments as these: —

WOOD NOTES WILD. 55

Like other thrushes and the chewink, the brown thrush
is much on the ground. He is rather shy, — with all his
exuberance he sings as if he were keeping something
back, — but he frequently shows himself in short flights
among the bushes and when crossing the road, always
flying low.

WOOD THRUSH; SONG THRUSH.
TURDUS MUSTELINUS.

HIS is probably the most popular singer of all the
thrushes. He may be heard at any hour of the
day during the mating and nesting season, but his best
performances are at morning and evening. While his
melodies are not so varied as those of the brown or
those of the hermit thrush, they are exquisite, the
quality of tone being indescribably beautiful and fasci-
nating. Chancing to hear him in the edge of the
woods at twilight as he sings,

in a moment one is oblivious to all else, and ready to
believe that the little song is not of earth, but a wander-
ing strain from the skies. How is it that a bird has that
inimitable voice? Whence his skill in the use of it?
Whence the inspiration that, with the utmost refinement,
selects and arranges the tones in this scrap of divine
melody? Hark!

gq iy

WOOD NOTES WILD. 57

It isa new key, and the rapture is both enhanced and
prolonged.

10 o’clock a. mM. a
2

TAWNY THRUSH; WILSON’S THRUSH;
VEERY.

TURDUS FUSCESCENS.

OTWITHSTANDING Dr. Coues’s silence, and
Wilson’s statement that this bird has “no song,
but a sharp chuck,” the tawny thrush is a charming
singer. His little song is very beautiful, especially at
evening. I think we have no bird that sings so far into
the dark; hence his popular title of the “American
nightingale.” It is particularly difficult to describe his
quality of tone. An appreciative woman perhaps nearest
indicates its metallic charm when she writes, “It is a
spiral, tremulous, silver thread of music.” There are
‘eight tones in the song, the last two being on the same
pitch as the first two. The beginning is very unusual,
the first tone being on the second degree of the scale;
and there is no breaking of the delicate “silver thread”
from beginning to end: —

This succession of sounds, so simple to the eye, be-
comes, as it is performed, quite intricate to the ear; some-
thing like the sweep of an accordion through the air.
The first half of the song is deliberate; the latter half is
slightly hurried.

HERMIT THRUSH.
TURDUS PALLASI.

N the case of the thrushes, as in other cases, it is not
easy to find out from the books “which is which.”
There is a general resemblance in their voices, in their
color, in their nests and eggs. Wilson says of this one,
“In both seasons it is mute, having only, in spring, an oc-
casional squeak like that of a young, stray chicken.”
Dr. Coues says, “ He is an eminent vocalist.” Mr. Flagg
holds a similar opinion. After no little research in the
books and in the woods, I am obliged to record him not
only as the greatest singer among the thrushes, but as
the greatest singing-bird of New England. The brown
thrush, or “thrasher,’ the cat-bird, and the bobolink
display a wider variety of songs; the bobolink especially,
who sings a long, snatchy song, in a rollicking style alto-
gether foreign to that of the hermit thrush. He never
indulges in mere merriment, nor is his music sad; it is
clear, ringing, spiritual, full of sublimity. The wood-
thrush does not excel his hermit cousin in sweetness of
voice, while he by no means equals him in spirit and
compass. The hermit, after striking his first low, long,
and firm tone, startling the listener with an electric thrill,
bounds upwards by thirds, fourths, and fifths, and some-

60 WOOD NOTES WILD.

times a whole octave, gurgling out his triplets with every
upward movement. Occasionally, on reaching the height,
the song bursts like a rocket, and the air is full of silver
tones. A second flight, and the key changes with a fresh,
wild, and enchanting effect. The hermit’s constant and
apparently indiscriminate modulations or changes of tonic
lend a leading charm to his performances. Start from
what point he may, it always proves the right one
When he moves off with —

T

and then, returning, steps up a degree and follows it with
a similar strain, —

it is like listening to the opening of a grand overture.
Does one attempt to steal the enchanter’s notes, he is
anticipated, and finds himself stolen, heart and all the
senses. But it is folly to attempt a description of the
music of the thrushes, of the skill and beauty of their
styles of singing, and all as vain to try to describe
their matchless voices.

Ps ee lo —}
a a A I an a

61

WOOD NOTES WILD.

In a deep still forest.

Slow.

a
@

fe A

Hb

OVEN-BIRD; GOLDEN-CROWNED
ACCENTOR.

SEIURUS AUROCAPILLUS.

Oh popular name oven-bird, perhaps as appropriate

as any, is derived, doubtless, from the architecture
of the nest, which is built on the ground, among old
leaves, and roofed over like an oven, with a door on one
side. It is so ingeniously constructed that no eye, not
even the cow-bird’s, is likely to discover it, unless it be by
seeing the bird approach or leave it. The oven-bird does
not fly from the nest, but runs from it with a most
peculiar, light, and graceful step.

Wilson says, “The oven-bird has no song; but a
shrill, energetic twitter.” Other writers pronounce him
a great singer; Dr. Coues declaring him the equal of
the “Louisiana Thrush itself.” An experienced observer
assures me that he has never heard anything from
the oven-birds but the one brief snatch of a song
which they are forever repeating, and such has been
my own experience; still, I do not question the tes-
timony of those who claim to have heard fine songs
from them.

I can hardly recall the notes of any bird that I have

WOOD NOTES WILD. 63

heard oftener, in the grass and bushes, than the following,
which are surely sung by the oven-bird : —

A ts 9 a 8 es Og oe Oe ee ee
2 se a es

Though not a great song, such is the zeal in delivery,
it keeps the woods ringing.

WOOD-PEWHE.
CONTOPUS VIRENS.

HE wood-pewee’s few notes, so peculiar, so solemn, so
long, so slow and gliding in movement, and so de-
vout withal, distinguish its song sharply from that of all
other birds, except, perhaps, the song of the titmouse. The
effect of the pewee’s singing is decidedly religious, remind-
ing one of the worship of the “ Free-willers,” who, long
ago, sang their hymns and half sang their prayers and
exhortations on the shores of Lake Winipiseogee. The
song closes with such unction that the scoffer is com-
pelled to join in the final Amen : —

The portamento is used in this song with wonderful
skill and power.

The wood-pewee is a tame bird, yet active and coura-
geous. He darts and swoops through the air, frequently
snapping up insects on his course. As he swiftly passes,
you think you will not see him again; but he returns,
and, alighting not far from the perch that he left, takes
up the sacred strain. Does some strange bird happen
near at the moment, the devotions are interrupted; the

WOOD NOTES WILD. 65

intruder is chased away in the most undevout manner.
This done, religious service is resumed with increased
fervor. If it be the second or third week in June, his
mate may be sitting near by, on four or five white eggs, or
the same number of “Free-willer” fledglings, which the
pious father feels it his first duty to protect.

Mr. Trowbridge has some happy lines to this little fly-
catcher : —

“ To trace it in its green retreat
I sought among the boughs in vain;
And followed still the wandering strain,
So melancholy and so sweet
The dim-eyed violets yearned with pain.
°T was now a sorrow in the air,
Some nymph’s immortalized despair
Haunting the woods and waterfalls ;
And now at long, sad intervals,
Sitting unseen in dusky shade,
His plaintive pipe some fairy played
With long-drawn cadence thin and clear, —

Pewee! pewee! pewee!”

Pe - wee peer! Pe-weepeer! Pe-weepeer! Pe-weel

THE NIGHT-HAWK.

CHORDEILES VIRGINIANUS.

HE night-hawk has nothing of the nature or of
the habits of the hawk tribe, though, on the wing,
he may resemble some of the smaller hawks. At even-
ing twilight, or a little before or after, in search of flies
and various insects abounding at that hour, constantly
tacking this way and that, as the game attracts, his low
ground flight is swift and angular. His pleasure flights
are of a wholly different kind, novel performances, unlike
those of any other bird. He then flies more moderately,
frequently crying “maing” and, at the moment of utter-
ance, rising, by two or three quick strokes of the wings,
several feet straight upward. Repeated ascents finally lift
him high in air; Wilson: says, “sixty or eighty feet.” I
am sure I have many times seen him more than two hun-
dred feet overhead when he made his plunge. This
height attained, he suddenly turns downward, almost
perpendicularly at first, with fixed wings and ever increas-
ing speed till near the ground; then with a graceful bend
or swoop in the form of a great horse-shoe, he shoots
upward again, mounting to plunge as before. When the
speed of his swoop is greatest, he produces a loud, boom-
ing sound; and this is his music.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 67

It is generally believed that the booming is made with
the mouth, but careful investigation has convinced me
that the mouth has nothing to do with it. This peculiar
sound is produced by the pointed wings, stretched down
and firmly set, cutting the air. Perhaps it is true that
only the males indulge in this singular exercise.

Though the night-hawk and the whippoorwill are often
taken for one and the same bird, the night-hawk never
sings “ whippoorwill,” nor does the whippoorwill ever
“boom.” The whippoorwill has bristles on each side of
the mouth, and a rounded tail, while the night-hawk has
a forked tail and no bristles, and the plumage is dif-
ferently marked. Both have the singular habit of sitting
lengthwise of a limb.

WHIPPOORWILL.
ANTROSTOMUS VOCIFERUS.

O bird in New England is more readily known by
his song than is the whippoorwill In the cour-
ageous repetition of his name he accents the first and last
syllables, the stronger accent falling on the last; always
measuring his song with the same rhythm, while very
considerably varying the melody — which latter fact is
discovered only by most careful attention. Plain, simple,
and stereotyped as his song appears, marked variations
are introduced in the course of it. The whippoorwill
uses nearly all the intervals in the natural scale, even
the octave. I have never detected a chromatic tone.
Perhaps the favorite song form is this:—

peiecethialaiaal

An eccentric part of the whippoorwill’s musical per-
formance is the introduction of a “cluck” immediately
after each “ whippoorwill;” so that the song is a regular,
unbroken, rhythmical chain from beginning to end. One
must be near the singer to hear the “cluck;” otherwise
he will mark a rest in its place.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 69

This bird does not stand erect with head up, like the
robin, when he sings, but stoops slightly, puts out the
wings a little and keeps them in a rapid tremor through-
out the song. Wilson decided that it requires a sec-
ond of time for the delivery of each “whippoorwill.”
“When two or more males meet,” he adds, “their whip-
poorwill altercations become much more rapid and inces-
sant, as if each were straining to overpower or silence the
other.” These altercations are sometimes very amusing.
Three whippoorwills, two males and a female, indulged in
them for several evenings, one season, in my garden.
They came just at dark, and very soon a spirited contest
began. Frequently they flew directly upward, one at a
time. Occasionally one flew down into the path near me,
put out his wings, opened his big mouth and hissed like a
goose disturbed in the dark. But the most peculiar, the
astonishing, feature of the contention was the /inale.
Toward the close of the trial of speed and power, the un-
wieldy name was dropped, and they rattled on freely
with the same rhythm that the name would have re-
quired, alternating in their rushing triplets, going faster
and faster, louder and louder to the end.

Crescendo ét accelerando. a er ae ee see ee aA) ots
8va. 1st Voice. 2d Voice.

Whip - poor - will, Whip - poor - will.

70 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Various melodic forms : —

BALTIMORE ORIOLE.
ICTERUS BALTIMORE.

F the Baltimore oriole, every whit American, it is
difficult to speak without seeming extravagance.
He is the most beautiful of our spring visitors, has a
rich and powerful voice, the rarest skill in nest-building,
and is among the happiest, most jubilant of birds. The
male generally arrives here a few days in advance of the
female—the first week in May; though last spring
(1884) I did not see the oriole till early on the morning
of the 15th. He had just arrived, and determined to
make up for lost time, he set the whole neighborhood
ringing : —

a, f= > rs , a> 7
pea =e > - Roa >

Hardly a songster, the oriole is rather a tuneful caller,
a musical shouter ; nevertheless, as will appear, he some-

72 WOOD NOTES WILD.

times vents his high spirits in ingenious variations indic-
ative of superior possibilities. Years ago I heard, from
a large, tall elm standing in an open field, a strain the
beauty of which so struck me that it is often wafted
through my mind to this day. It was the oriole’s voice,
but could it be his song ?—

if). 2
rez m3
ya YZ

: :

L =. gy ¥ 1 "2 t w = 2]
= i Z t x =

Ep i p—t :

It proved to be, and it became with me a favorite argu-
ment for the old form of the minor scale—the seventh
sharp ascending, natural descending.

But a still greater deviation from the usual vocal de-
livery of orioles was noticed in Dorset, Vermont, on the
22d of May, 1884, the new song continuing through the
season. A remarkable feature of the performance was
the distinct utterance of words as plainly formed as the
whippoorwill’s name when he “tells” it “to all the hills.”

p+ = = f >
pe et pe
oo Cur - ly, cur - ly, Hey! Chick -er- way, chick - er - way,
Ht.
SS SS = b p——4
chew, eur - ly, cur - ly, cur - ly,
ieee f=
7 ¥ a Z %
kah, kue. Hey! Chick-er - way, chick - er -way, chew.

While listening to this song I could not help thinking
that the bird had been trained. He invariably attacked
the forte “Hey!” in the climax, as if he had a full

WOOD NOTES WILD. "3

sense of the exclamation. We hoped the wandering
minstrel would summer in our grove of maples, but
he passed on, visiting the neighbors as he went, finally
taking quarters less than a third of a mile away. Nearly
every day during the season, however, we were greeted
with at least one vigorous “Hey! chick-er-way, chick-
er-way, chew!”

The oriole, when about to fly, gives a succession of
brisk, monotonous notes, much like those of the king-
fisher : —

were? —

Long after the foregoing sketch was written, having
decided meanwhile that my study of the oriole was fin-
ished, one bright summer morning in central New Hamp-'
shire a bird dashed into a maple directly overhead and
sang : —

It was an oriole.

SCARLET TANAGER.
PYRANGA RUBRA.

HE tanager, the Baltimore oriole’s only rival in
beauty, is the less active, the less vigorous charmer
of the two, and has less vocal power; but it would be
difficult to imagine a more pleasing and delicate exhibi-
tion of a bird to both eye and ear than that presented by
this singer, in scarlet and black, as he stands on the
limb of some tall tree in the early sun, shining, and
singing, high above the earth, his brief, plaintive, morn-
ing song. The tanager’s is an unobtrusive song, while the
percussive, ringing tones of the oriole compel attention.
The tanager can sing in the forest with only his fellow-
birds for audience; the oriole must be out, near the earth,
among men, to be seen and heard of them.

For three successive years I found the tanagers in three
different States, but not a note from one of them. In the
spring of 1888, however, a beautiful singer greeted me,
one summer morning, from the top of a tall oak near the
house. He paid frequent visits to the same tree-top dur-
ing the entire season, and generally sang the same song,
beginning and ending with the same tones :—

WOOD NOTES WILD. 75

Still, like other birds, he had his variations: —

These were all June songs, the last two being sung late
in the afternoon.

Though the singer’s home was in the near woods, we
did not discover the nest of his mate. Erelong there
came a time of silence, and an absence of flaming plu-
mage; and finally, a family of tanagers, undoubtedly
ours,— male and female and three unfinished young
tanagers of a neutral olive tint,— were about our
grounds in the last days of August, evidently prepar-
ing to leave for their home in the tropics. The
husband and father had doffed both his “singing-robe”
and his garment of scarlet, and wore in silence a
travelling-dress of mixed pea-green and willow-yellow.
More desirous than ever to avoid notice, there was
about him a most captivating air of quietness and
modesty.

ROSH-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
GONIAPHEA LUDOVICIANA.

HAVE had several interviews with this bird in dif-

ferent states, but never when prepared to take more
than his key-note; so I give his song mostly from mem-
ory, feeling confident, however, of the accuracy of the
main features and the spirit of it.

The black and white dress of the grosbeak, his breast
adorned with a brilliant rose star, instantly attracts the
eye; and his loud, ringing song as surely arrests the ear.
He sings rapidly and energetically, as if in a hurry to be
through and off. No bird sings with more ardor. While
on paper his song resembles the robin’s, and the key of
E flat major and its relative minor are common to both,
the voice and delivery are very unlike the robin’s.

Loud and rapid.
>

WOOD NOTES WILD. 77

I am told that this bird has also a very musical whis-
tling call.

I found the grosbeaks in Belknap County, New Hamp-
shire, in June, 1886, and in St. Lawrence County, New
York, in June, 1887.

In their fall migrations they go in flocks, occasionally
calling upon the farmers for food, appearing as tame and
as much at home as if they had been raised by them.
Flocks have passed through northern New Hampshire on
their journey South in December, paying leisurely visits
to the cider mills for the apple-seeds in the cast-off pum-
ice, apparently very little concerned about the cold.

RED-EYED VIREO.
VIREO OLIVACEUS.

‘HIS lively, tireless singer, running rapidly after
insects in the tops of the forest trees, singing as
he goes, is heard more hours in a day and more days in
the season than any other bird. There is no difficulty
in distinguishing him, the bird so easy to hear and so
hard to see. The clear, high tones of his rich voice are
a constant repetition of a few triplets, but so ingeniously
arranged as not to become wearisome : —

This illustration, containing the substance of the red-
eyed vireo’s song, has much in common with the music
of other birds. The nest is after the fashion of the
oriole’s, hanging, as I have found it, beneath the fork
of small beech limbs, five or six feet from the ground.
It is a nice little pocket, as the cow-bird well knows.

YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT.
ICTERIA VIRIDIS.

S one approaches the haunts of the yellow-breasted
chat, the old rule for children is reversed,— he is
everywhere heard, nowhere seen. Seek him ever so slyly
where the ear has just detected him, instantly you hear
him elsewhere; and this with no sign of a flight. The
chat revels in eccentricities. Some tones of his loud
voice are musical, others are harsh; and he delights in
uttering the two kinds in the same breath, occasionally
slipping in the notes of other birds and, on some au-
thorities, imitating those of quadrupeds. I have discov-
ered in his medleys snatches from the robin, cat-bird,
oriole, kingfisher, and brown thrasher. Wilson refers to
his “great variety of odd and uncouth monosyllables.”
I have detected three such, “char,” “quirp,” and “whir;”
and they were given with distinctness.

The male birds, generally preceding the females in their
migrations, locate and at once begin a series of vocal
and gymnastic exercises. A marked example of these
performances is a jerky flight straight upward perhaps
fifty feet, and a descent in the same fussy fashion. The
favorite time is just before dusk; but if there be a moon,
a carousal of some sort goes on all night,—the evident

80 WOOD NOTES WILD.

intention being to let no migrating lady-chat pass with-
out a hearty invitation to cease her wandering and to
accept a husband and a home.

After all, the chat can hardly be said to have a song.
The longest strain that I have heard from him is with-
out melody, closely resembling the rhythmic movement
of the yellow-billed cuckoo’s effort, but wholly unlike it
in quality of tone. He will burst out with loud, rapid
tones, then suddenly retard and diminish to the close:

beegeheedee Pee eet

I have heard this strain many times in the course of
an hour, and am satisfied that it has no one pitch or key.
The following are the principal notes of this chat, but
it is not to be understood that they always come in like
order : —

Quirp, quirp. (3)

WOOD NOTES WILD. 81

— =>

Quirp, charr, charr,

= # Rit, & dim,

4; —2-— «9» 9» 9» #——#etc Hl

a

°

BOBOLINK.
DOLICHONYX ORYZIVORUS.

HE mere mention of his name incites merriment.
Bobolink is the embodiment of frolic song, the
one inimitable operatic singer of the feathered stage.
Though the oriole has a stronger and more commanding
voice, and the thrushes far surpass him in deep, pure and
soul-stirring tones, he has no rival; even the mocking-
bird is dumb in his presence. In the midst of his
rollicking song he falls with bewitching effect into a
ventriloquous strain, subdued, as if his head were under
his wing; but soon the first force returns with a swell,
and he shoots up into the air from the slender twig upon
which he has been singing and swinging in the wind,
plying just the tips of his wings to paddle himself along
in his reckless hilarity, twisting his head this way and
that, increasing in ecstasy till he and his song drop
together to the ground.

During his short but glorious reign bobolink takes the
open meadow, the broad sunlight all day long. When
he would sing his best, he invariably opens with a few
tentative notes, softly and modestly given, as much as to
say, “Really, I fear I’m not quite in the mood to-day.”
It is a musical gurgling: —

WOOD NOTES WILD. 83

Pl- leu, pl - le - ah,

Then the rapturous song begins, and a gradual cres-
cendo continues to the end. A few of the first notes of
the song proper are, —

kr v
NTe
ro

van oy
Ra
eo

His tonic is F major or D minor, and he holds to it, his
marvellous variations being restricted to the compass of
an octave, and the most of his long song to the interval
of a sixth. A long song and a strong song it is, but
though the performer foregoes the rests common among
other singers, like the jeweller with his blow-pipe, he
never gets out of breath. We must wait for some in-
terpreter with the sound-catching skill of a Blind Tom
and the phonograph combined, before we may hope to
fasten the kinks and twists of this live music-box.

Perhaps we have no more interesting, more charming,
summer guest. When Nature clothes the fields with
grass and flowers, he throws aside his common brown
wear for new plumage, gay as it is unique. This striking
change is a new birth; he neither looks, acts, sings, nor
flies as he did before, nor could you guess him out. In

84. WOOD NOTES WILD.

both heart and feather he is brightness itself. Most birds
are dark above and light below; this bird, in the new
birth, takes the exact reverse. His breast and lower
parts are black, his back, neck, and crown white, shaded
with yellow seams. He reaches New England about the
middle of May, with his plumage perfect and his song
come to fulness.

INDIGO-BIRD.
CYANOSPIZA CYANEA.

HAD very little acquaintance with this bird, and

knew nothing of his singing, till I sought him for
study in a sunny nook near the entrance of the beautiful
cemetery at Lynn. There a pair spent the season, giving
me frequent opportunities to listen to the singer. His
song was brief, plain, and without variation, and I sup-
posed it to be the family song; but to my surprise,
though I have heard indigo-birds sing many times since,
not one of them sang that first song, the only one I
have been able to copy.

The exact tones were, —

At first the tonic was not quite distinct, but after sev-
eral performances, I caught this : —

The conclusion then was that the key was F. In the
repetitions the last two tones were added about one time
in six,—just often enough to keep in mind the true

86 WOOD NOTES WILD.

key, which by the constant use of sharp four might be

lost sight of.
The form, then, was as follows: —

This little visitor sang frequently and earnestly; with
most fervor in the hot noon-day sun, when the birds gen-
erally were silent.

BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO.
COCCYGUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS.

T is the black-billed cuckoo whose song, with very lit-
tle merit, has become famous. It must be the low
pitch, the solemn manner of delivery, and the quality of
tone that have attracted the attention of the writers; for
there is little variety in the rhythm and the least possible
in the melody. The rather doleful, straightforward rep-
etition of the singer’s name is not heard every day; the
cuckoo, too, has his moods.

7 x 5 5 5 me
bas a a = ries ge = re ca —p ial
rep ry @ 3 @ a
Cuck - 00, euck 00, euck 00, coo,
cpi—s n % 5 5 5 5
| oo p i. = tT = ba ik =a ot & TH oe ro
Eee é é z r é ri ri Zz
Cuck - 00, euck 00, coo, cuck - 00, coo,

y 4. 2. ~~ mt y. 4. mii
Ee é 4 z = 4

Cuck - 00, euck 00, c00, cuck - 00.

I have heard this bird nearly every summer of my life,
and never any departure from the old, monotonous strain
until recently (1888.) Early one June morning, sultry
and warm, a bird was exercising his voice in a manner

88 WOOD NOTES WILD.

that set me on the alert; it was the voice of a cuckoo, but
not the cuckoo’s song : —

hy
DE =e t t t +t

2 7 re rs rs H

At first thought, it was some bird that had practised
under a cuckoo master. It was an anxious moment, but
presently all was settled : —

ae, el Dee
Res t t t 1

FS
Cuck - 00,
2
o—? —? rl ro o—t
Cuck - 00, cuck - 00, cuck - 00.

The instant I heard “cuckoo,” more especially the
second one, giving the interval of a fourth, I experienced
a thrill of satisfaction such as no similar discovery had
afforded. Other ears, sharper than mine, had heard all,
unknown to me; and there was great rejoicing, — the
cuckoo was learning to sing.

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO.
COCCYGUS AMERICANUS.

HE yellow-billed cuckoo, though he tries hard to
make a showing of vocal talent, succeeds only in
producing a slovenly, guttural blubbering, with barely
tone enough to give positive pitch. The beginning of this
effort is a sepulchral and somewhat protracted sound,
which bursts into several rapid, boisterous bubbles, fol-
lowed by others softer and slower, farther and farther
apart.

zac m Rit, G00, 6 4 we we we eR
‘a
cy t yey Te os iE iva 7 i
eo Ls vw vw er ve er
Wan Op) & x. ee olp, olp, olp, olp, olp, olp.

The yellow-breasted chat exhibits the same rhythmic
peculiarity in his chattings, and so does the woodpecker,
drumming on a board or dry limb for the mere sound of
it; but in quality nothing can be compared with this slop-
ping performance, unless it be that of the loose-mouthed
hound lapping from a pan of milk.

The cuckoos, graceful, beautiful birds, and ever rapt in
solemn revery, are solitary voices, seldom heard more than
one at a time.

QUAIL; BOB WHITE.

ORTYX VIRGINIANUS

HE quail is said to be a general inhabitant of North
America, but familiar as I have been with almost all
parts of Vermont for more than thirty years, 1 have seen
only one quail in the State, and he was evidently a
“tramp.” I heard him just at night, the first day of
July, 1884. Did not get sight of him till the next morn-
ing, when he came out into the sun, stood on the top rail
of a fence, warmed himself, and whistled his spirited,
forceful tune, his solid little body swelling and throbbing
at every note, especially when he rose to the tonic.
I was prepared for him, and made an exact copy of
what he gave me: —

>A > >
int iY =. 8 #- a. a ity
Bob, Bob white, Bob white, Bob, Bob white.

After the performance he stood, evidently listening for
a reply; none came, and without another note he disap-
peared, to be seen no more.

The quail is about one-half the size of our partridge,
and resembles it in plumage and style of flight. It seems
a little strange that the time of incubation should be four

WOOD NOTES WILD. 91

weeks, while the partridge and the domestic hen sit only
three weeks. A nest that I found in Iowa in 1874, on
the ground, seemed rather small and too deep, the sixteen
eggs being piled one upon another for at least three
layers. I was told that they were all sure to hatch.

Our eastern quails are plump, fine-looking birds; but
there are two varieties in California, the “mountain
quail” and the “valley quail,” more beautiful than
ours.

RUFFED GROUSE; PARTRIDGE;
PHEASANT.

BONASA UMBELLUS.

HE peculiar interest in the partridge is owing to
its close kinship with our domestic fowls. The
wild and the tame hens look alike and act alike; their
habits are similar; their eggs differ only in size; and
both prefer nests on the ground. They gather their
chickens under their wings, and call them with like
clucks. The partridge seems to have an appreciation
of all this, and delights in coming near our buildings,
even lighting upon them and on the well-curb, and
flying down into the door-yard. Not long since, a young
miss of our village drove one into a shed, and caught
it in her hands.

Living for more than thirty years in a grove, I have
had interesting experiences with these birds. One even-
ing last summer, on going just at dark to see what dis-
turbed a hen grouping her chickens out-of-doors, I found
a partridge sitting in her nest, refusing to be driven out
by the proprietor, who was both picking it and striking it
with her wings. I took it up, carried it into the house,
examined it, and placed it on the floor. It was full
grown and plump, but appeared to be unable to stand,

WOOD NOTES WILD. 93

lying quite motionless, as is the habit of the young in
time of danger. The next morning, when I opened the
door of the wood-house, where it had spent the night,
instantly it hummed by my head and disappeared. (The
partridge has a rapid flight, and no bird surpasses it in
swift sailing.) What caused this partridge to seek the
nest of the brooding hen at that hour is something of a
mystery; it may have been hotly pursued by an owl.
But it is of the musical powers of the partridge that
I wish to speak. One spring the neighboring children
came in companies to see a partridge on her nest close by
my barn. The novel sight was highly entertaining, but .
their eyes opened wider still when they saw and heard
the performances of her mate on his favorite log. Dur-
ing the time the hen was laying and sitting, he often
gave us the “stormy music of his drum.” It was small
trouble to arrange bushes on a fence near by, so that
one could creep up unseen and get a full view of the
gallant thunderer perched on a knotty old hemlock log,
mossy and half-buried in the ground; and “children
of a larger growth,” as well as the boys and girls,
availed themselves of the opportunity. Of the many
who saw him in the act of drumming, I do not recall
one who had a correct idea beforehand of the way in
which the “partridge thunder” is produced. It was
supposed to be made by the striking of the bird’s wings
either against the log or against his body; whereas it
was now plainly to be seen that the performer stood
straight up, like a junk bottle, and brought his wings in
front of him with quick, strong strokes, smiting nothing

94 WOOD NOTES WILD.

but the air, not even his “own proud breast,” as one
distinguished observer has suggested.

Wilson thinks the drumming may be heard nearly
half a mile. He might safely have doubled the distance;
though when we consider the low pitch, B flat, second line

in bass staff, the fact is surprising. The tones somewhat
resemble those of any deep drum, being very deceptive
as to distance, often sounding near when far off, and far
off when near. I describe the drumming as a succes-
sion of thumps, the first dozen of which may be counted.
The first two or three are soft and comparatively slow;
then they increase rapidly in force and frequency, rush-
ing onward into a furious whir, the whir subsiding in a
swift but graduated diminish. The entire power of the
partridge must be thrown into this exercise. His appear-
ance immediately afterward affirms it as strongly as does
the volume of sound; for he drops into the forlornest of
attitudes, looking as if he would never move again. In
a few minutes, however, perhaps five, he begins to have
nervous motions of the head ; up, up, it goes, and his body
with it, till he is perfectly erect, — legs, body, neck, and
all. Then for the thunder once more:—

ee aS

Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump, thump.. Whir. . . ~

The partridge, as the bass drummer, is an important
member of the feathered orchestra.

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER; LOON.

COLYMBUS TORQUATUS.

oleae loon is not a singer, but his calls and shoutings
exhibit so great a variety of vocal qualities that

we must consider him a member of Nature’s chorus.
In the summer of 1887, I spent a few weeks on the
borders of Trout Lake, St. Lawrence County, New York.
This beautiful little island-dotted lake, some three miles
long, has been inhabited for years by three or four pairs
of loons, There they lay their eggs and rear their young,
and there I found a good opportunity to study them. On
one occasion a small party of us discovered a nest. When
we were yet a good way off, the wary sitter slid from
sight into the water, darted along beneath our boat, and
was far out into the lake before she came to the surface.
The nest, simply a little cavity in dry muck, was on
the ruins of an old musk-rat house, not more than
eight or ten inches above the water. There were two
very dark eggs in it,— never more than two are found in
the nest of the loon,— nearly as large as those of a goose.
The time of sitting, as I was informed, is four weeks.
Wilson says of the loons that “they light upon their
nests;” but a careful observer, who had several times
seen the female make her way from the water to her
nest, told me that they shove themselves to it on their

96 WOOD NOTES WILD.

breasts, very much as they push themselves in the water.
I was also informed that the young are never fed upon
the nest, but are taken to the water on the back of the
mother, where they remain and are fed for a time, and
then are launched upon the waves for life. At this age
one can row up to them and take them in the hand,
which they delight in giving hard nips with their long,
limber bills; but when a month old they seem as wild
and cunning as their parents.

I had several lively frolics with a pair about that age.
They were already expert divers and could swim many
rods under water. As we neared them in the boat great
excitement was manifested by both old and young; the
little ones dived in a flash and the parents made off rap-
idly, shouting for us to follow them. How they knew the
direction the young ones took under water I cannot say ;
but they were sure to take quite another course. After
learning their trick we turned to go from them, when
suddenly there was a furious dashing and splashing just
behind us, and in a moment more one of them rushed by,
very near us, both flying and swimming, with wings in
the air and feet in the water. He swept by us with
a noise like a steamboat, but no boat could equal his
speed. At every stroke of his wings he smote the water
as well as the air. It is the opinion of many that the loon
uses the wings under water, which is probably the case.

When the family discovered that we were only at play
with them, they became quiet; but presently there went
up a strange wild cry of three tones, the second one being
long and loud, and all so much like the call of the human

WOOD NOTES WILD. 97

voice that no sensitive person could hear them without
surprise and emotion : —

| cuimms

fe.

a1
1]
tt
iy

He

Wilson thought the European divers to be of a different
species from the American divers, they differed so much
in size. He cites a European specimen that weighed
sixteen pounds against the usual weight of our divers,
which he puts at eight anda half pounds. The point of
size would not seem to be well taken, for I have seen in
the collection of Mr. Vickary, the taxidermist of Lynn,
the body of one of our divers which weighed twelve
pounds; and Mr. Vickary informs me that one was once
sent to him which weighed seventeen pounds.

The loon is a born aristocrat. He is no trifler: every-
thing he does bears an intellectual stamp. A solitary,
mating only with the elements, he is master of winds
and waves, sitting the waters with sovereign grace and
dignity, equally unconcerned in calm and tempest. Sur-
prised by danger, he dives fearlessly and swims the
depths with incredible swiftness and for an astonishing
length of time, finally emerging far away. Then, if the
attractions of his other element inspire him, he rises and
flies rapidly through the upper air, shouting over and over
his characteristic five tones: —

00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00, 00.

GREAT HORNED OWL.
BUBO VIRGINIANUS.

“ HO ever heard an owl sing? is asked in de-

rision,” says a delightful writer on natural
subjects ; and he himself seems almost willing to acknow-
ledge that the owl does not sing, and even to doubt his
hoot. However it may be elsewhere, up here among the
Green Mountains owls hoot, and hoot well, with deep, |
strong voices that may be heard distinctly, of a calm
evening, for a mile or more.

One winter, after six weeks of cold, perhaps the
severest in fifteen years, the weather moderated, and
the 3d of March was comparatively a mild day. An owl
felt the change, and in his gladness sent down ponderous
vesper notes from the mountain, which, as they came
booming across the valley, bore joy to all that heard
them.

The owl did not change the weather; the weather
changed the owl. After all that has been said for and
against the ability of inferior creatures to foretell changes
of weather, the sum of our knowledge amounts to about
this: the senses of these beings are keener than our own,
enabling them to feel the changes sooner than we can,
and consequently to get a little before us with their

WOOD NOTES WILD. 99

predictions. On the present occasion, though it was
almost dark, the guinea hens chimed in with their rasp-
ing voices, and the turkeys added their best gobbles in
happy proclamation of the warm time coming. The owl
gave three distinct hoots in succession, repeating them at
intervals of about two minutes at first, afterwards with
longer pauses. The first of these tones was preceded
by a grace note; the second was followed by a thread-
like slide down a fourth; and at the close of the third
was a similar descent of an octave.

Neither slide, however, ended in a firm tone.

White of Selborne says that one of his musical friends
decided that, with a single exception, his owls hooted in
B flat ; while a neighbor found the owls about the village
hooting in “three different keys, —in G flat or F sharp,
in B flat, and A flat.” This Yankee owl, true to the
instincts of the soil, hooted in a key of his own, E flat.

MOTTLED OWL; SCREECH-OWL.
SCOPS ASIO.

HE little screech-owl is perhaps the best musical
representative of the owls. Indeed, in point of
individuality of style, this artist stands alone, and must
be ranked as a singer. To be sure, he has nothing of the
spontaneous joy of the robin, of the frolic flow of the
bobolink, nothing of the clear, clean vigor of the oriole;
but he surpasses them all in tender, dulcet sentiment.
Never attempting a boisterous strain, his utterances are
pensive and subdued, often like a faint cry of despair.
Chary of his powers, the screech-ow] cuts his programme
tormentingly short; and it is only after many trials that
one is able to collect the disjointed strains that make his
medley entire. Just at dark, some pleasant evening, you
will hear his low, faint tremors. At first they may be
heard perhaps every other minute, then the interim grad-
ually lengthens, until by nine o’clock his pauses become
intolerably long. The tremors or trills are given with a
swell, the crescendo being longer than the diminuendo.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 101

This is repeated, evening to evening, without variation ;
but after long waiting and many disappointments comes
a change that is at once a surprise and a delight : —

Ah - 4 ee, Ah - ee, Ah - ee,

>
D)
Rye
>
N
nT
D)

Ah - - - 00, Ah - 00, Ah - 00,

This owl ascends the scale generally not more than one
or two degrees; the charm lies in his manner of descent,
sometimes by a third, again by a fourth, and still again
by a sixth. At the outset one is inclined to decide that
the descent is according to the chromatic scale; then the
steps will seem too short, sounding not more than half so
long as those of this scale. I can best describe it as
a sliding tremolo,—a trickling down, like water over
pebbles : —

Ah + + - = 00, Ahb-oo, Ah-0oo, Ah- oo,

Ah - oo.

So rapidly and neatly is it done that an expert violinist
could not easily reproduce it. Perhaps the descent of the
whinny of a horse comes the nearest to it of any succes-
sion of natural sounds.

One September morning something woke me at two
o'clock. My head was soon out of the window, and

102 WOOD NOTES WILD.

just in time to hear what I had waited for for more
than a year. My little screech-owl had come to make
amends for his tantalizing delays. I had heard the
strains before but had not secured them. They were as
follows : —

Ah-oo, Ah-oo, Ah-00, Ah- 00, . . 4,2

Ah *>-+ + - «+ +00, Ah-oo, Ah- 00, Ah- 00

It is hard to believe that pleadings so gentle can
accompany thoughts intent on plunder and blood. I do’
not know where to look again for so painful a contradic-
tion as exists between the tones of this bird and his
wicked work. Wilson, noticing the inconsistency be-
tween his utterances and his actions, says of one he had
in confinement, that at twilight he “flew about the room
with the silence of thought, and perching, moaned out
his melancholy notes with many lively gesticulations not
at all in accordance with the pitiful tone of his ditty,
which reminded one of a half-frozen puppy.”

The naturalist is glad to be a “companion of owls” for
a season, willingly taking the risk of their making night
hideous and keeping him awake with their “ snoring.”

WOOD NOTES WILD. 103

Owls have been hooted at perhaps as long as they have
been hooting. “As stupid as an owl,” “tough as a biiled
owl,” — these expressions of reproach are still in vogue.
But let us give the owl his due. An intelligent and
apparently honest man tells me that he once ate of an
owl — fattened on chickens, by the way, filched from him
with surpassing cunning—and found it as sweet and
tender fowl as he had ever tasted. So it seems the
owl is not always stupid nor always tough. Few birds
are clad in finer raiment, and no other inhabitants of the
air fly with so velvet-like, so silent wings.

HEN MUSIC.

ATE one night, as I chanced near the hennery with

a light, I was rewarded by an exquisite exhibition

of the communicative ability of our domestic fowls.
The hens moved on their perches, when the rooster
spoke, rousing them still more. Stepping back, I soon
heard a little sound, high and “exceeding fine,” with a
deceiving ventriloquous quality. Long spun, and then
bent down in a graceful descent of the interval of a sixth,
it terminated in a more decided tone, a peculiar tremor
something less than a trill, and died away in a beautiful

diminish.

This model example in pianissimo practice and in the
art of holding the breath proved to come from one of the
hens; and though the exact tones are here represented,
no idea can be conveyed of the unique, perfect perform-
ance. The quieting effect on the family was instantaneous ;
not another move or peep. The descent noted is similar
to that made by the screech-owl. The intervals are iden-
tical ; but the hen slides down with an oily smoothness,
while the owl, as elsewhere shown, comes trembling,
shivering down.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 105

Being an hour late with their breakfast one morning, I
was received by the feathered supplicants with unusual
demonstrations. They crowded about me so closely I
could hardly step without treading on their toes. With
heads lifted much higher than one would think they
could be, and eyes shining, their tones and inflections
were exceedingly human. Like all birds, wild or tame,
hens employ, ascending and descending, the intervals of
our scale, except in cases as above described; they use
the half-step and whole-step, the major and minor thirds,
the fourth, fifth, and sixth, with a good sprinkling of
chromatics. In this instance every degree of the staff
was brought into requisition, the slide of a fourth upward
occuring oftenest.

ae

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, ok, ik, ok, ok, ok, ik.

The notes of one hen were all the same, and piano,

ee
cp = = i> >t ty ix a Tl]
z aH
> £7
o - ark, o- ark, ark, ark, ark, ark, ark, ark, ark.

But the rooster’s petition “led all the rest.” Striding
about in the rear, an occasional brief command attesting

106 WOOD NOTES WILD.

his title of “Captain,” at length he burst out into this
sonorous strain: —

or. Ma fos a fos oN fol
5 af ari T +
a iY y rl ¥ 7 T
bent | | nal ri ‘a. aor i rm
Ee v e ve 7
Wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk,
Db mores. a_f ra
C4 BAY 1 Se BR m1 + — a
7 K 4. bal fol = t ‘@- _. ity
= t 2 é. ms oz =~. aA | |
ri ) =. iu
g 7
wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk, wauk,

The Captain’s voice was sound and powerful, and his
intonation perfect. The slides of a third and fourth were
carried up with a noble crescendo ; and when he rose to
the tonic at the close, the effect was thrilling as that of
a clarion blast.

What with his sturdy song and dignified, soldierly bear-
ing, the Captain’s effort was full of hints, in manner and
motive, for the composer, the singer, and the orator.
When, a few mornings after his notable improvisation, I
found the Captain’s lifeless body, I was not surprised at
the gentle demeanor of his many widows; they felt, per-
haps more keenly than I, that one of the mighty had
fallen.

It was several weeks before I found a substitute for the
Captain; at length a boy brought him, and I saw at a
glance that he was the “General.” With a word or two
by way of greeting, he paused and stood erect before the
bereft hens. Soon a pullet, the only shy member of the
company, ran to him and put her head close to his. If
the General moved, Ruth-like, she moved. A mourner

WOOD NOTES WILD. 107

of wider experience was no less interesting in behavior.
For some moments she stood aloof in disgust; then, with
more ruffie at her neck than was becoming, flew at the
General with all fury. The astonished soldier returned
several blows, then checking himself, held his head to
the ground, covered with confusion. The fair insulter
had no idea of quitting; she continued the onslaught,
finally ending it with a series of smart picks square on
the lordly comb. The General “grinned and bore it,”
and thus ended the ludicrous mistake, for a mistake it
was, the General fancying for an instant that he was
dealing with a foeman worthy of-his spur. On discover-
ing his blunder, he was glad to suffer the most crushing
humiliation.

The newcomer proved a lusty crower; and after taking
his morning call several times, and finding it without
variation, I recorded him : —

But one day, at a late hour, when he was at large, I heard
him use very different intervals. Listening to the strange
version over and over again, I was much surprised and
perplexed ; for, if I had erred in his case, which was a
plain one, what might be my errors in intricate cases!
I immediately changed the record to the new form, and
wrote in the margin, “Every man is a genius in going
wrong.” But the next morning my ear caught the first
form again. The second, the same to the eye but very
unlike to the ear, was this: —

108 WOUD ‘NOTES WILD.

> >

- at

Had the second form been given in the key of the first,
thus, —

nist... _ > > 24. > >
ey ¥ # t it =a sae |
a

it would have seemed more natural; but as I was correct
in both instances, I reasoned that the rooster might be.
I finally settled it that the General’s first form was his
morning in-door salute, and that the second was his out-
of-doors, “every-day ” song; furthermore, that he or some
of his ancestry had stolen his text from a strain in “The
Seven Sleepers,” which in my memory runs —

as | |

Oh, Pro - con - sul

However, a waggish composer offset this theft when he
caught the jubilant cackle of a hen as she broke from her
nest, heart and throat full of joyous melody, snatched it
bodily, I say, clapped it to paper, and made “Old Dan
Tucker :”” —

Pe ae > >
| ne see
| g t LPs wi t an ive #. t ive
v v er v al * v LA LA
Cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut,
ft my >
| ae as nm iY = o— mY 2
= f fF =.
cs : Sree t sf
vs A [| my [i Le = Lad J t oes

cut, cut, cut, ker dart cut, cut ker dart,

WOOD NOTES WILD.

oP mf
| ae a > = a —. _ iy —
7 >t a id _ 1 Y 0 4— Y x r
‘~. ina “a feabons ‘~. Rd L tae
ri = [J a 1 2.
Wag gle, wag gle, wag - gle, wag- gle, cut ker
or mp f
| ome a i “i ro
j-——————
— ta fe. [i - ri —¢e.- [a =.
dart wag - gle, wag - gle, wag -gle, wag- gle, cut
=>
ri ri r 3
—]
iv og Z TF i)
ker dart, wag- gle, wag - gle, wag- gle, wag - gle,
rit. fine Aer ei UaS go ee
Db. - ff. eo ft
Cyr “- ~ se: if 1 |
i a ¥ as ¥ Zz a —U
cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut ker dart.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

EVERAL spaces, some of which are indicated by the
lines of periods, were left in the manuscript for
enlargement and illustration. Unfortunately, but two of
the musical illustrations can be found. The author was
singularly ready and happy in such musical reports as
those of the dropping water and the clothes-rack, giving
them frequently, interspersing his conversation with bits
of song.

Localities where the Songs were taken. (See p. 1.)

The observations here recorded were begun and con-
tinued for more than a year at Maple Grove, Dorset,
Bennington County, Vermont. Afterward the work was
carried forward in various parts of New Hampshire and
in St. Lawrence County, New York, but principally in
Southern Massachusetts, especially at and about Lynn
and in Franklin, Norfolk County. — C,, 8. P.

Newness of the Field. (See p. 1.)

“TI have had a feast for the past week with Wilson,

Flagg, and Audubon. I have greater faith than ever in
8

114 WOOD NOTES WILD.

NEWNESS OF THE FIELD. — Contin.

my undertaking. Poor Audubon! all through his big
book he laments his inability to describe the songs o/
the charming birds. Flagg has given a few specimens.
He thinks there can be no more of their songs copied.
Audubon was a wonder, but Wilson is, to my mind, the
most charming of the writers on the birds. The two men
were at work at the same time, and were well along with
their great undertakings before they knew anything of
each other. So it is; one can hardly have a new thought
all to himself. If I had started this bird music twenty.
five years back, I should have been all alone; I don’t lack
much of it now.” — G., S. P., in a letter dated February, 1886.

Dr. Golz, formerly First President of the German
General Ornithological Society (Allgemeine Deutsche

1 There are those who think that none of the bird-songs can be
copied : —

“ As I have some musical knowledge, and have given some attention
to the music of birds’ songs, it may be worth while to add one or twc
remarks on a subject which is as difficult as it is pleasing. I need hardly
say that birds do not sing in our musical scale. Attempts to represent
their song by our notation, as is done, for example, in Mr. Harting’s
‘Birds of Middlesex,’ are almost always misleading. Birds are guided
in their song by no regular succession of intervals; in other words.
they use no scale at all. Their music is of a totally different kind tc
ours.” — Fowler, W. W.: A Year with the Birds, p. 257. London, 1889.

“ Having been myself musical from my very cradle, and having made
long and frequent observations of the songs of birds, I have come to the
decided conclusion that the natural songs of English birds (the only birds
with which in a state of nature I am acquainted) are never capable of
musical notation, — are never, in fact, in tune with our musical scale.
People may be startled by such an assertion, which is, in other words.
that all birds sing out of tune.” —R., M. H.: Songs of Birds. Notes ana
Queries, 3d ser. vol. xii,, Aug. 3, 1867. (See Index ; Pole, W.)

APPENDIX. 115

NEWNESS OF THE FIELD, — Contin.

Ornithologen Gesellschaft), referring to the notations of
Beckler (see Index, Beckler, D. H.), speaks with more
reserve. In a note dated December, 1890, he supports,
though somewhat indirectly, the opinion of our author ;
namely, that the main body of a bird-song may be fairly
represented by the notes of our scale. He would except
the performances of the gray nightingale and of our
mocking-bird, as Mr. Cheney excepts the performance of
the bobolink. Dr. Golz says: —

“A short time before the publication of Dr. Alfred Brehm’s
work ‘Captive Birds’ (Gefangene Végel) a treatise by Beckler
appeared in the ‘Gartenlaube,’ published by Keil at Leipsic.
In this periodical that traveller and ornithologist attempted
to reproduce or to express in notes of our musical scales the
song of different birds, principally Indian birds, for instance
the ‘Shana’ (Cophychus macrurus). I then pointed out that
composers of high standing and opera-singers who themselves
were bird-fanciers had endeavored in vain to render in notes
of our musical scales the wonderful succession of tones of your
mocking-bird (Zurdus polyglottus), This would only be pos-
sible with very monotonous songs, —for instance, those of a
finch (Fringilla coelebs) or a thrush (Turdus musicus), but not
with the complicated strophes of our gray nightingale (Luscinia
philomela), which vary from whole tones to halves and from
thirds to fifths, — not to speak of those of your world-renowned
mocking-bird. Among the latter there are, as a well-known
fact, some monotonous and incompetent singers, which having
been taken from their nests when very young, had been brought
up without hearing the old birds sing. Unschooled singers,
however, are for the most part virtuosi, master singers, and are
not to be forced into notes of our system.”

116 WOOD NOTES WILD.

NEWNESS OF THE FIELD. — Contin.

“Have received and carefully considered the maga-
zine article (Henderson, W. J., Sportsman’s Music, in
the Century Magazine, xxxiv. 413-417). The author,
claiming to be a ‘musician,’ asserts, to begin with, that
‘there is nothing in Nature that resembles music;’ that
the succession of sustained sounds is not heard, — that
‘the peculiarity of the songs of all birds is that they
never sustain notes.’ Then he quotes the Rev. Mr. Haweis
to support him, and the reverend takes the cuckoo — the
English cuckoo, I suppose —as the best example. Says
he ‘sings a true third, and sometimes a sharp third, or
even a fourth,’ and this is the ‘nearest approach to
music in Nature.’ Of all the birds to select for the pur-
pose, the cuckoo of any country would seem to be the
very last. I know nothing about the English cuckoo, but
our cuckoo never sings a third, ‘true’ or false, nor a
‘fourth.’ His song is a perfect monotone excepting an
occasional drop of a half-step. That is the whole of it.
The writer of this article has a ‘profound sense’ of the
impossibility of doing justice to the quail’s song. Old
Hundred is not plainer than the notes of the quail, and
no idea is given, in either of the two examples, of the
notes of the quail The same is true of all that is said of
the meadow lark.” — C.,S. P., ina letter dated July, 1887.

For newness of the field, contin., see Index, Newness, etc.
For intervals of English cuckoo’s song, see Index, Cuckoo.

APPENDIX. 117

Music in Nature. (See p. 2.)

With this same article for his text, the author writes
again at length: “Do the birds ‘never sustain notes’?
Listen to the loon, our largest bird, calling to her young
in time of peril with a loud, long tone so startlingly like
the human voice : —

ao

Here is a ‘fourth and a true third.’ Descend, now, and
listen to one of the smallest of our singing-birds, the
titmouse : —

~— 2 o

a & €
| me i i" ra , a
i 1 t + i L

rN ~~ + Ae @ ry
Ee t = — = = {|

The chickadees sustain these notes longer than we do the
half and quarter notes in Dundee or Old Hundred. Here
is a ‘true third’ and a true second; and they are sung
with a purity of tone not to be equalled this side of
heaven. The little black-throated green warbler sings
with marked distinction and moderation, —

Here is the true major third, and the strain is identical in
melody with ‘Larboard Watch Ahoy’: —

118 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Music In NATuRE. — Contin.

The wood-pewee sings long and well-sustained tones : —

pee ace
fol ™~

pepe er

ea fF = fF

The song of the meadow lark is very choice in point of
melody, often beginning with —

P: a ee

FS eee

and soon adding —

Nor is this all the beautiful melody of the meadow lark.

“A few mornings since I heard a chewink singing the
first strain of ‘Rock of Ages,’ cutting it a little short
with a trill: —

I have remembered for forty years the song of an oriole,

illustrating the old form of the minor scale, — the seventh
sharp ascending, natural descending : —

p pet te.

CMY ¥ v u

:

APPENDIX. 119

Mosic in Naturs. — Contin.

The thrushes and the sparrows, our greatest songsters, —
I will not ask them to help me in my reply. I have
heard a cock crow an exclamatory phrase in the oratorio
of the ‘Seven Sleepers ’: —

>.

C x 2 i T
"2 u

0 Pro - con - sul.

And where did we get ‘Old Dan Tucker’? From the
hen as she quits the nest, singing her inherited song of
rejoicing.)

“But I do not need the birds; the four-footed kind can
render answer. One winter morning, when everything
was ‘frozen solid, our old Morgan mare, Fanny, saluted
me with a clear scale-exercise, worthy in performance
of a skilful artist on the trombone : —

mm iN IN

fess fy ep ee

c z 2 in z 11)

The next morning the weather had changed; it was
thawing, all was soft and sloppy. Not a note from
Fanny till I had walked the length of the barn and
come in full sight of her. Then in a subdued voice
she called, —

A yearling colt, spying a strange horse at the hitching-
post, sent him this challenge : —

1 See Index, Hen Music.

120 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Music 1n Nature. — Contin.

p_ «ft + + + «+ +

pS]

Two young bulls once gave me a musical entertainment : —

N [J NX & 2 hea - = => ‘ => = > : >
Moo-uh,moo-uh,moo-uh,moo-uh. Boo-uh, boo-uh, boo-uh, boo - uh.
No. 2.
oN => ON > iN > oN > fol >
Q
ri —"s —— + ae ee =

Number two reversed the order. This was while, with
nose to the ground, he was pawing, throwing dirt over
his back and playing the dare-devil generally. Enough
of this, and he thrust up his nose and trumpeted, —

> > >

T t t I = { t t +

Moo-wuh, moo-uh, moo-uh, moo-uh.

It was interesting to learn that there was no departure
from the key in the long interval of a tenth, — an octave
anda third. The forceful tone on C sharp was in tune.”

For music in Nature, continued, see Index, Music in Nature.

Newness of the Field. (See p. 1.)

“Those pages of bird talk you sent me are read at last.
They have some good points.

APPENDIX. 121

Newness oF THE Frevp. — Contin.

“TI have seen no bird music that is not strained and un-
natural; but I must say nothing ‘out loud’ Iam familiar
with the songs of these birds, and find nothing here that
I have heard. Now then, tell me who the author is and

when he wrote.” — Letter from S. P. C. in response to an article

extracted from an American Magazine of 1858, and sent him by the
editor of the present volume. Date, November, 1889.

Our author, unfamiliar as he was with the literature
of bird music, regarded himself as standing pretty much
alone; the field was to him decidedly new. Would he
have felt differently had he made an extended survey
of it? W. J. Broderip published the third edition of
his “Zodlogical Recreations” in 1857, giving in one of
the earlier chapters the pith of the famous paper by
Daines Barrington, published in the Philosophical Trans-
actions of 1773. He says: —

“The Hon. Daines Barrington, who paid much attention to
this subject, remarks that some passages of the song in a few
kinds of birds correspond with the intervals of our musical
scale; but that much the greater part of such a song is not
capable of musical notation. He attributes this to the follow-
ing causes: first, because the rapidity is often so great, and it
is also so uncertain where they may stop, that it is impossible
to reduce the passages to form a musical bar in any time what-
soever ; secondly, on account of the pitch of most birds being
considerably higher than the most shrill notes of instruments
of the greatest compass; and lastly, because the intervals used
by birds are commonly so minute that we cannot judge at all
of them from the more gross intervals into which our musical
octave is divided.

122 WOOD NOTES WILD.

NEWNESS OF THE FIELD. — Coniin.

‘‘ Barrington defines a bird’s song to be a succession of three
or more different notes, which are continued without interrup-
tion during the same interval with a musical bar of four crotch-
ets in an adagio movement, or whilst a pendulum swings four
seconds. Now let us see what notes have been detected in the
song. Observers have marked F natural in woodlarks; A in
thrushes; C falling to A commonly in the cuckoo; A natural
in common cocks; B flat ina very large cock; D in some
owls; B flat in others. Thus we have A, B flat, C, D, and F,
to which Barrington adds G, from his own observations on a
nightingale which lived three years in a cage; and he confirms
the remarks of the observer who furnished him with the list,
and says he has frequently heard from the same bird C and F.
To prove the precision of the pitch of these notes, the B flat of
the spinnet by which he tried them was perfectly in tune with
the great bell of St. Paul’s. E, then, is the only note wanting
to complete the scale; but, as he says, the six other notes afford
sufficient data for making some conjectures with regard to the
key in which birds may be supposed to sing, as these intervals
can only be found in the key of F with a sharp third, or that
of G with a flat third; and he supposed it to be the plaintive
flat third, that affecting tone which, in the simple ballad, or
‘wild and sad’ chorus, so comes home to our bosoms... .
Barrington pronounces in favor of the flat third because he
agrees with Lucretius that man first learned musical notes
from birds, and because the cuckoo, whose ‘plain song’ has
been most attended to, performs it in a flat third.”

This brings us down to 1857 in England, — indeed, we
may say on the European continent, —and if we are to
trust a philosopher thoroughly versed in the structure
of music, no advance was made, to say the least, in the
next thirty years. “No one who has taken the very

APPENDIX. 123

NeEwNEss oF THE FIELD. — Contin.

first steps in the philosophical study of the structure of
music could entertain the idea that the sounds naturally
emitted by birds . . . were entitled to be called either
music or melody.” So writes Wm. Pole in “Nature” for
August 11, 1887. While it is the intent of the editor
to collate simply, not to criticise, he is moved to inquire
if the notations grouped below, besides showing the ex-
tension of the field as surveyed in England in the last
quarter of the 17th century and as practically left one
hundred years later, do not constitute a sufficient answer
to the author of “A Year with the Birds,” M. H. R,, to
the writer on “Sportsman’s Music,” to the author of
“Music and Morals,” and to the distinguished contributor
to “Nature” for August 11, 1887. The writer last men-
tioned says : —

“We arrive, therefore, at the conclusion that the essential
feature of music, its minimum component, must be a combina-
tion of sounds of different pitches, these pitches being moreover
strictly fixed and defined, and their relations to each other cor-
responding to certain series agreed on and adopted as standard
musical scales. Such combination will of itself constitute music;
we may add all sorts of other features, but without the above
essential foundation we cannot have music, in an artistic point
of view.”

What “component” of the “essential foundation” is
lacking in this group of melodies?

CHICKADEES, singing responses.
__ pl z pe 24e 7, 3: = rs
—- ir Li +

i

intitle
Hy

t
C

124 WOOD NOTES WILD.

NEWNESS OF THE FIELD. — Contin.

MrApow LARK.
ee 2

Pas

HERMIT THRUSH.

See Index, Sully, J.

“TI have corrected the proof-sheets of Bluebird and
Robin, and they look much more interesting than I
thought they would. When I compare my work with
any that I have seen, I confess to you privately that
I cannot help feeling a little proud. It was quite excit-
ing to see my thoughts up in secluded Dorset in print, —
these and the notes of birds that have been so long
neglected. It gave me a new feeling; I had actually
done something. Why, sir, it is astonishing to read the
childish writing about the music of the birds. And the
one man who has done the most in the way of putting
bird music on paper is often wide of the mark.” —C., 8. P.,
in a letter dated May, 1889.

The reference here is to the author of “Birds and

Seasons of New England,” now published under title,
“A Year with the Birds.”

APPENDIX. 125

NEWNESS OF THE FIELD. — Contin.

While the old singing-master always spoke admiringly
of Mr. Flagg, in his estimation the musician fell far short
of the naturalist and the man. When we compare the
reports of the two of the song-sparrow’s music it is not
surprising that he could not concur with him when he
wrote of his seven illustrations, “All the variations of
his song are given below.”

Sona Sparrnow.— Flagg: A Year with the Birds, p. 15.

126 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Music in Nature. (See p. 2.)

VESPER-MICE.

Buckland, F: Log-book of a Fisherman and Zodlogist (London,
1875), pp. 103, 104. Mr. Buckland says, “The song is a genuine song,
as good and as musical as that of a lark on a fine summer morning.”

Davis, W. T., in Amer. Nat., vol. xxiii, 1889, pp. 481-484. — Ed-
wards, W. H., in Amer. Nat., vol. iii., 1870, p. 551.— Lockwood, Rev.
S.: Asinging hesperomys. (Amer. Nat., vol. v., 1871, p. 761.) — Nature,
vol. xvi., 1877, p. 558; vol. xvii., 1877, pp. 11, 29.

Nor is music confined to the shore.

EEL AND FIsu.

See Abbott, Dr. C. C.: Wasteland Wanderings, pp. 300-302.—
Edinburgh Philos. Journ., vol. xiv. p. 188. — Musical Fishes. (Pop.
Sci. Mo., vol. xxiii, Aug., 1883, p. 571.) Peal, S. E.: Voice in Fish.
(Nature, vol. xxi., Nov., 1879, p. 55).— Tennent, Sir J. E.: Sketches of
Nat. Hist. of Ceylon (London, 1861), pp. 380-385. — White, Rev. G.:
Nat. Hist. Selborne, ed. by E. Jesse (London, 1878), p. 245, note. —
Yarrell, W.: Hist. of Brit. Fishes, vol. i, pp. 44, 107.

“A party lately crossing from the promontory in Salsette called the
‘Neat’s Tongue,’ to near Sewree, were about sunset struck by hearing
long, distinct sounds like the protracted booming of a distant bell, the
dying cadence of an olian harp, the note of a pitch-pipe or pitch-fork,
or any other long-drawn-out musical note. It was at first supposed to be
music from Parell floating at intervals on the breeze; then it was per-
ceived to come from all directions almost in equal strength, and to arise
from the surface of the water all round the vessel. The boatmen at once
intimated that the sounds were produced by fish abounding in the muddy
creeks and shoals around Bombay and Salsette; they were perfectly well
known, and very often heard. Accordingly, on inclining the ear towards
the surface of the water; or, better still, by placing it close to the planks
of the vessel, the notes appeared loud and distinct, and followed each other
in constant succession. The boatman next day produced specimens of the
fish, — a creature closely resembling in size and shape the fresh-water
perch of the north of Europe, — and spoke of them as plentiful and per-
fectly well known.” — Dr, Buist, in Bombay Times, January, 1847.

APPENDIX. 127

Music 1n Nature. — Contin. :

A record of “ musical sounds like the prolonged notes on the harp,”
proceeding from under water, is to be found in “Bombay Times,”
Feb. 13, 1849.

Froa.

Wheelwright, H. W. (Ten Years in Sweden, London, 1865), men-
tions a little frog (Bombinator igneus) which has a love-tune like the
ringing of bells.

“New Views in Natural History, leading up to the Perfectly Authentic
History of an Interesting but Unfortunate Frog,’ is the queer title of a
pamphlet recently published in a French country town by a good abbé.
It tells a simple and touching story of a melodious frog. The abbé
relates how he called one day upon a sick man, one of the poorest of
his parishioners, who, in honor of the priest’s visit, threw into the fire-
place a few branches, which blazed up into a bright flame.

“Presently there appeared, from under an old worm-eaten chest, which
was the sole article of furniture in the room, an enormous frog, which
hopped along toward the blaze. The frog seemed to be at home, and
so he was. He was the sick man’s only friend.

“The abbé regarded the animal with interest. Thereupon the peasant,
in order to repay the priest for his attention to his pet, gave an exhibition
of the frog’s accomplishments. In a nasal voice, the peasant began sing-
ing one of the old French ballads that have come down from the time
of King Dagobert —one of the simplest of songs, both in words and
music. ‘What was my astonishment,’ writes the abbé, ‘to hear the frog,
after the man had sung one couplet of his song, take up the note upon
which the man had ended, and to utter his /a, drop to fa, go up to la
again, and then down to mi, with a precision worthy of a choir-master.
And these notes, /a, fa, la, mi, the frog repeated regularly and correctly,
in a tone guttural and sweet, after every couplet that the man sang, like
a sort of chorus. The notes were plaintive and a little veiled, with a
touch of melancholy and regret, and sounded much like an old-fashioned
harmonica.’

“The abbé describes also the expressive pantomime that the frog went
through as he sang his notes. He looked tenderly toward his master,
with an expression as if he really desired to please, and felt also a wish
to have his performance appreciated.

“This was, unfortunately, the only performance by the frog that the
abbé witnessed. The poor man died a few days afterward, and the
singing frog disappeared. No one knows what became of him.” — News-

paper clipping.

128 WOOD NOTES WILD.
Music i1wNature. — Contin.

CRICKET.

A cricket (Chlorocoelus Tanana) is eaged, like a bird, for its song. —
Bates, H. W.: The Naturalist on the River Amazons, pp, 132-134,

German youths are so fond of cricket music that they “carry their
boxes of crickets into their bedrooms at night, and are soothed to sleep
with their chirping lullaby.” — Jaeger, B.: Life of North Amer. Insects,
p. 114,

And did not a similar custom prevail in ancient Greece ?

“Tn the common field-cricket of Europe the male has been observed to
place itself, in the evening, at the entrance of its burrow, and stridulate
until a female approaches, when the louder notes are succeeded by a more
subdued tone, whilst the successful musician caresses with his antenne the
mate he has won. Any one who will take the trouble may observe a sim-
ilar proceeding in the common house-cricket. The nature and object of
this insect music are more uniform than the structure and situation of the
instrument by which it is produced.” — Bates, H. W.: The Naturalist on
the River Amazons, p. 133.

ANT.

See Forbes, H. O.: Sound-producing Ants. (Nature, vol. xxiv.,
1881, pp. 101-102.) — Peal, S. E.: Sounds made by Ants. (Nature, vol.
Xxii., 1880, p. 583; vol. xxiv., 1881, p. 485.)

For other of Nature’s musicians, see Baird, S. F., in Ann. Record
of Science, 1877, pp. 282, 309.— Francheschini, R.: Musical Insects,
5 pp. (Pop. Sci. Mo., vol. xxxix., Sept., 1891.) —Gardiner, W.: Music
of Nature, chap. 14. — Hinrichs, ss A.; Summer’s Natural Orchestra,
2pp. (Pop. Sci. News, vol. xxv., Sept., 1891.) — Landois, H., in Das Aus-
land, vol. xliii., 1870, pp. 429, 480. — Die musikalischen Insecten und
ihre Instrumente. (Gartenlaube, 1872, pp. 698, 699.) —Schele de Vere,
M. R. B.: Music in Nature. (Putnam’s Mag., n. 8. vol. vi., 1870, pp.
178-182.) — Unknown tongues, in his Stray leaves from the Book of
Nature, p. 241, N. Y., 1856. — Scudder, S. H.,in Am. Naturalist, vol.
ii., 1868, p. 118. — Sterne, Carus: Das erste Stindchen. (Gartenlaube,
1875, pp. 787-789.) — Wilson, Dr. A.: Songs without words. (Zclec.
Mag., x. 8. vol. xxxvi., 1882, pp. 737-745.)

For Stridulating Crustaceans see Nature, vol. xviii., 1878, pp. 53, 95.

APPENDIX. 129

Music 1n Nature. — Contin.

Any expression of doubt as to the existence of music in
Nature was sure to be promptly met by our author. On
one occasion he burst out, “That sort of talk should come
only from the fellows that find their cuckoo music in the
top of a Dutch clock. , The trombone blasts of the peacock
are in melodic steps, the horse uses both the diatonic and
the chromatic scale, and the ass jerks out his frightful
salute in perfect octaves.’ All things have music in the
rough, from the insect with a fiddle on its back? up to
behemoth.”

Carlyle says that the heart of Nature is music, and
Niagara,3 Mammoth Cave,! the sonorous sands and musical
stones seem to bear him out. Illustrations of music in
Nature are to be found in a paper “On Melody in
Speech”> by Dr. F. Weber (an English organist) :

1 The vocal skill of the horse and of the ass are united, it seems, in a
four-footed singer from afar. ‘“ An ape, one of the Gibbons, produces an
exact octave of musical sounds, ascending and descending the scale by
half-tones ; so that this monkey ‘alone of brute mammals may be said
to sing.’ ” — Darwin.

2 This expression suggested the design on the cover of the present
volume. Reverse it, and we have a fair description of what old Father
Kircher found on an antique gem and transferred to the title-page of
the Musurgia. The old music-loving monk being the first, so far as we
know, to write down the bird songs, it has seemed proper to link to him,
by this pretty badge, the last lover of music and Nature to busy himself
in the same delightful sort of reporting. The broken harp and the sing-
ing insect may well be perpetuated as the emblem of the guild.

8 Niagara. See Thayer, E. M.: Music of Niagara. (Scribner’s Mag,
vol. xxi., 1880, pp. 583-586.)

4 Mammoth Cave, Music in the, in Litt. Liv, Age, vol. Ixviii., 1861,

. 289.
5 Music in Speech, in Philos. Trans., vol. ii., p. 441. Same article in
Litt. Liv. Age, vol. 1., 1856, p. 228.
9

130 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Music in Nature. — Contin.

“Longman’s Magazine,” vol. ix., 1877, pp. 399-411. (See
Index, weber, F.) A reply by Wm. Pole is to be found
in “ Nature,” vol. xxxvi. pp. 343-345.

See Index, Fowler, W. W.— Pole, Wm.— R., M. H. — Weber,
Dr. F.

Dr. Weber, referring to his article in a letter to the
editor, dated Jan. 5, 1891, says: “It is said that an
American organist claims to have discovered the principal
tone and its harmonics which the waters of Niagara are
continually singing, to be four octaves below the following:

2 ri)
1nd t
- —

i
fy
CaS
q

By the law of harmonics there ought to be another

tone, B, —
=]

which the organist must have overlooked. These tones
are the natural tones of the French horn and the trom-
bone, and may be easily produced as harmonics on the
long Violoncello or Double Bass strings.”

Structure of Melody.

Human Music aNnp ANIMAL Music. (See p. 2.)

“Tt has been found by Helmholtz that the most natural successions
follow the order of the harmonics or upper-tones, which, as we have ob-
served, enter into rich notes or clangs. That is to say, the most natural
sequence is such as passes from the fundamental to one of the prominent

APPENDIX. 181

StRucTURE oF MELopy. Human and Animal Music.— Contin.

upper-tones, — for example, to the octave above; the next natural, such as
passes to a second note which possesses an upper-tone in common with the
first, —e. g., to the fifth above. In such cases, according to Helmholtz, the
ear is gratified by a vague sense of similarity in diversity, since the second
note, in spite of its difference, retains an element of the first note. Over
and above this, the ear appears to derive pleasure from a succession of
notes which are near one another in the scale; that is to say, which form
a small interval as to pitch. By means of such steps (our smallest modern
interval is a semitone) we are able to measure the several upward and
downward movements of a melody.

“ Finally, it is to be observed that one essential of melody, according
to our modern notions, is the presence of some ruling tone or key-note,
which serves as a starting-point and a resting-place for the melody, and in
reference to which the position of all the successive notes of the tune is
estimated.

“ Tf now we take a careful survey of animal music we shall find that all
these elements of human melody are to some extent represented. Thus
we shall see that it makes use of discrete notes of definite pitch, of a wide
variety of timbre, of time relations or rhythm, of melodic affinities, and
even in a measure of tonality or key. This statement may, no doubt, ap-
pear an exaggeration to those of our readers who have never examined
and analyzed the music of the woods which has so often delighted their
ears. We can only ask them to defer forming an opinion till they have
the facts before them.

“Tt cannot be said that birds have a very good ear for time. In many
songs there is hardly anything deserving of the name of rhythm, so capri-
cious and irregular are the sequences. And even in the case of the higher
and more elaborate songs it is difficult to reduce the succession of notes
to a time-order like that of our bar-system. Perhaps we ought not to be
surprised at this, seeing that the pleasure of time involves complex intel-
lectual actions. Nevertheless, there is clearly an adumbration of the
simpler forms of rhythm in bird-song. Thus it is not uncommon to meet
with notes which are held twice and three times as long as others, and so
on, —a fact which clearly implies the existence of a nascent sense of dura-
tion and power of comparison.

“With respect to the melodic relations of notes, bird-song shows a con-
siderable degree of true artistic insight. We find each principle, that of
continuous steps and that of harmonic intervals, clearly illustrated.

132 WOOD NOTES WILD.

al

Structure oF Metopy. Human and Animal Music. — Contin.

“The harmonic affinities of notes are clearly perceived and selected by
most singing-birds. Thus among the commonest intervals are the fifth
and fourth, both of which are marked by the presence of a common partial
tone. The octave, though a more closely related interval than either of
these, appears less frequently than they do. The twelfth, too, which
stands almost on a level with the octave in point of harmonic affinity, is
to be met with occasionally.

“As to key, or tonality, birds may be said to recognize and embody
this element of human melody, in so far as their song naturally falls in a
certain key, and is always executed in one and the same key. On the
other hand, these feathered musicians seem to have little or no notion of
setting out from and returning to one particular note. They are wont to
break off in the most capricious way at any point in their melody without
the least sense of incongruity. Thus it cannot be said that birds show any
clear appreciation of tonality. And this is not to be wondered at, seeing
that such a perception presupposes considerable intellectual power, and that
even in the case of human music the principle of tonality only becomes
prominent when the art has reached a certain stage of development.” —
Sully, James: Animal Music. (Cornhill Mag., vol. xl., Nov., 1879, p. 605.)

“And yet isn’t it strange that bird music is not tiresome? My memory
recalls for me parts of California where the meadow lark’s ‘silver whistle’
(our Eastern fellow gives no idea of it) is almost the only bird-song heard
the year round; and yet, though zt is heard superabundantly, ’tis never a
whit less fresh and charming than at first. All this gives me a feeling
that there is something more than a difference of degree between human
and bird music. What is the difference? To my thought, bird melody
resembles the Swiss mountaineer’s yodle on his horn, which one hears the
year round with delight, while if he played the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’
nightly we would begin cursing him at the end of « month. ’T is indefi-
nite, unspecialized music, not narrowed to the expression of a specific sen-
timent. Probably you will remind me that there is a deeper problem yet:
what do the birds themselves think of it? What does Mrs. Robin think
when at summer’s end she finds Mr. Robin singing the same song as at
summer’s beginning, or nearly the same? Can you find some open-minded
robin down in Franklin, ere long, and Jet me know the truth of it, accord-
ing to his view ?”” — Clark, Xenos, in a letter to the author, dated Sept. 7, 1888,
Monterey, Berkshire County, Mass.

“To vocal and instrumental music he preferred that of birds ; not from
being incapable of finding delight in the others also, but because human
music leaves in the mind a continual agitation which disturbs both atten-

APPENDIX. 133

StRucTURE oF MELopy. Human and Animal Music. — Contin.

tion and sleep, ... whereas no such effect can be left from the modulation
of birds, because those modulations, not being equally imitable by us,
cannot affect our internal faculties in the same degree.” — Gassendi, P., in
Vita Peireskii.

Harmonic Affinities in Bird Music. (See p. 6.)

For an interesting article on harmonic affinities as per-
ceived and selected by the birds, the reader is referred
to the late Mr. Xenos Clark’s “ Animal Music, its Nature
and Origin” (American Naturalist, vol. xiii., April, 1879,
pp. 209-223.)

“The perfect fifths, fourths, thirds, and octaves,” he
writes, “have a marked predominance, their proportion
of the whole number being respectively twenty-seven
per cent, twenty-five per cent, twenty-six per cent, and
nine per cent, or taken all four together, eighty-seven
per cent, as against thirteen per cent of the remaining
five intervals.”

Of course the notations on which such calculations are
based must be correct or nothing is proven. A like cal-
culation based on an equal number of the author’s nota-
tions, selected from the songs of the choicer vocalists,
would bring the percentage perhaps still higher.

Dr. Weber, the organist, before quoted, says, “The
intervals we observe most in the voices of animals are
fifths, octaves, and thirds, and also fourths and sixths.”

“ The cases of the starling, the piping bullfinch, and the mocking-bird,
which can be taught to whistle a tune, show the same power still more
highly developed. These instances prove not merely susceptibility to mu-

sical sounds, but also a capacity for distinguishing the harmonic intervals.
It is stated that some birds, even in the wild state, display considerable

134 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Harmonic AFFINITIES IN Birp Music. — Contin.

knowledge of the musical scale; and a San Francisco naturalist! is at
present engaged upon a work in which he hopes to show that the human
ear posesses in this respect merely a more highly developed form of the
common vertebrate sensibility. When we reflect upon the purely physi-
cal and physiological basis, which, as Helmholtz has taught us, underlies
the musical intervals and the distinctions of harmony and discord, there
is certainly no reason why they should not be perceived by all the higher
animals alike, in a greater or less degree.” — Allen, G.: Histhetic Feeling in
Birds. (Pop. Sci. Mo., vol. xvii., September, 1880, pp. 653-654.)

Genesis of Bird Song. (See p. 5.)

“From all we can gather it appears most probable that in its present
form our song-bird proper — our bird with a song to sing —is not much
older than man; that he found his song just in time to gladden the ears of
God’s last and greatest creation; that he struggled through countless ages
and awful changes in order to fit himself for our entertainment.2 Think

1 Probably Mr. Xenos Clark, who was at one time on the Pacific Coast. _

2 The Rev. Charles Kingsley credits the birds with instruction as well
as entertainment. In his opinion they set the key-note for the songs
of the old poets; the medizval bards borrowed liberally from the birds
(A Charm of Birds, Fraser’s Mag., vol. xxv., June, 1867, p. 802).

Both Gardiner and Kingsley were anticipated, however, by a nameless
magaziner : —

“We have alluded to the rapid passages in the song of birds, the
succession of soft and loud sounds, the contrast between quick and slow
notes. Is it quite improbable that these, and perhaps other peculiarities
in their melodic exertions, may have furnished hints for imitation? or
must we produce vouchers of crotchets and quavers? Let the following
bars of a favorite waltz, of German composition, be played on the
flageolet : —

APPENDIX. 135

Genesis oF Brrp Sone. — Contin.

what the avian race has endured since first Archsopteryx felt the feath-
ers begin to bud in his arms! What a long, slow, hesitating, faltering
current of development, from a scaly amphibian of the paleozoic time,
up, up, to the glorious state of the nightingale and the mocking-bird!!

These specimens, if imagination carry us not too far, seem to us direct
imitations of some wilder melodies of birds, probably of the nightingale ;
and we could produce others of a similar nature, to us equally striking.

“But we beg the cuckoo’s pardon; we had almost left him out of the
catalogue of professors. The cuckoo, we are convinced, has furnished
an important hint to the human race.

“The cuckoo has but two notes at his command; these notes are al-
ways the same, and strictly appreciable; and their interval is invariably
that of the minor third, sung downwards : —

fae]

“ Here again, the Big-wigs of harmony have written volumes in search
of the origin and foundation of the minor scale, when they might have
found it in every copse. How the great Tartini, and a dozen others,
have tugged at the problem! Perhaps they were family-men. The
minor third is all that is necessary for the formation of the minor scale;
the other intervals we make free with from the major.” — New Mo. Mag.,
vol, vii., 1823, p. 303.

“ Birds were assuredly the most ancient music-masters. And even to
this day, with all our boasted refinement, all our natural and artificial
exertions, who will be bold enough to assert that either Mrs. Billington,
the delight of the present age, or Farinelli, the admiration of the last,
ever approached the excellence of these instinctive musicians, either in
fertility of imagination, in the brilliancy of their shake, or in neatness of
execution ?”’— Burgh, A.; Anecdotes of Music, etc. (London, 1814), vol. 1. p. 13,
note.

But, like all the good thoughts, this thought is very old. The antici-
pating magaziner was in turn anticipated : —

“ At liquidas avium voces imitarier ore
Ante fuit multd, quam laevia carmina canta
Concelebrare homines possent, aureisque juvare.”

Lucretius, lib. v. line 1378,
See Gardiner, W.: Music of Nature, chapter xii.

1 See Allen, G.: Ancestry of Birds (Zongman’s Mag., vol. iii., Jan-
uary, 1884, pp. 284-298); also Rhoads, S. N., in Am. Nat., vol. xxiii,

136 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Genesis oF Birp Sona. — Contin.

1889, pp. 91-102. I never see a brown thrush flashing his brilliant song
from the highest spray of a tree without letting a thought go back over
the way he has come to us, and I always feel that to protect and defend
the song-bird is one of man’s clearest duties.” — Thompson, M.: Sylvan

Secrets, p. 97.
“The growth of Melody has been clear and natural enough. Nature

itself laid the foundation when Sound first broke out in its thousand
shades and colorings, from the grateful hum of bees to the terrific roar
of monster ocean. It is this world of sound — Nature’s great diapason —
which we draw upon when molding into shape the nursery lullaby, or the
operatic scena which commands the admiration of patrician and plebeian
alike. Tosound monophonic tones is possible to both man and beast,
and the first cravings of primitive man were towards an imitation of the
soands of life around him. In this way the Kamtschatkales have this
succession of tones : —

| ms i

= ee t z

ca oy +

not from any musical system, but by imitating the ery of the wild duck.
The notes constitute the open or arpeggio form of our chords §, $. The
moanings of man and beast doubtless led to the first funeral chants,
such as the Egyptian Maneros, called by the Greeks Linos (Alvos), and
reputed the oldest music in the world.” — Crowest, F. J.: Musical Ground-
work, pp. 88-89,

SINGING AND DANCING.

And if man has profited by the example of the birds in
the art of song, how about the sister art of dancing?

“The white-banded mocking-bird of southern South America — perhaps
the finest feathered melodist in the world —is one of those species that
accompany music with appropriate motions. And just as its song is, so
to speak, inspired and an improvisation unlike any song the bird has ever
uttered, so its motions all have the same character of spontaneity, and
follow no order, and yet have a grace and passion and a perfect harmony
with the music unparalleled among birds possessing a similar habit.
While singing he passes from bush to bush, sometimes delaying a few
moments on and at others just touching the summits, and at times sinking

APPENDIX. 137

GENESIS oF Brrp Sone. — Contin.

out of sight in the foliage; then, in an access of rapture, soaring vertically
to a height of a hundred feet, with measured wing-beats, like those of a
heron; or mounting suddenly in a wild, hurried zigzag, then slowly
circling downward, to sit at last with tail outspread fanwise, and vans
glistening white in the sunshine, expanded and vibrating, or waved lan-
guidly up and down with a motion like that of some broad-winged butter-
fly at rest on a flower.” — Hudson, W. H.: Music and dancing in Nature.
(Longman’s Mag., vol. xv., 1890, pp. 597-610.)

See Darwin, C.: The Descent of Man (N. Y., 1872), vol. ii. pp. 65-68. —
Fish, E. E.: Dancing Gander. (Pop. Sci. Mo. vol. xxv., 1884, pp. 715-716.)
— Nutting, C. C.: Chiroxiphea linearis, Bp. (U.S. Nat. Mus. Proceedings,
vol. vi., 1883, pp. 384-385.) — Some Western Birds (cranes), Putnam’s
Mo., vol. iv., 1854, p. 80.— Wallace, A. R.: (Birds of Paradise) The
Malay Archipelago, pp. 466-467.

“ Between these two opposing tendencies, one urging to variation, the
other to permanence (for Nature herself is half radical, half conservative),
the language of birds has grown from rude beginnings to its present
beautiful diversity ; and whoever lives a century of millenniums hence
will listen to music such as we in this day can only dream of. Inap-
preciably but ceaselessly the work goes on.! Here and there is born
a master-singer, a feathered genius,2 and every generation makes its

1 Such was the author’s belief. His words are “ The end is not yet.”

2 “Died, at the house of Colonel O’Kelly, in Half-moon Street, Piccadilly,
his wonderful parrot, who had been in his family thirty years, having been
purchased at Bristol out of a West India ship. It sang, with the greatest
clearness and precision, Psalm CIV., ‘The Banks of the Dee,’ ‘God save
the King,’ and other favorite songs; and, if it blundered in any one,
instantly began again, till it had the tune complete. One hundred guineas
had been refused for it in London.” — Gentleman’s Mag,, pt. 2, vol. Lxxii.,
1802, p. 967. (Another account, Gentleman’s Mag., pt. 2, vol. lvii., 1787, p.
1197.)

But long before the day of this genius, Rome could boast of a lark
that, after singing divinely, would pronounce the names of the saints
in most musical Italian, carrying his repertoire of sweet words up to
fairly astonishing numbers. Father Kircher — who, by the way, has not
a little valuable matter hid away in the hard shell of his old Latin — was
overcome with wonder at the performance of this bird. He could hardly
be persuaded that he was not listening to a human voice, and was con-
vinced without further argument that all birds with melodious throats
might not only sing the music, but speak the language, of men.

138 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Genesis oF Brrp Sona. — Contin.

own addition to the glorious inheritance.” — Torrey, B.: Birds in the
Bush, p. 47.

“Let us for a moment try to conceive how this process may have been
accomplished. We presuppose a certain amount of the power of vocalization
at different heights or pitches, the results of social needs, etc. We further
assume, as the correlative of this, the existence of a nascent sensibility to
differences of pitch, also a feeling of preference for certain kinds of timbre
over others, The circumstances of wooing, with its eager rivalries, would
serve to bring out the existing powers of vocalization to their fullest.
The more striking and attractive the sounds produced by a particular
male, the more likely would it be to win his mate. Now a voice might
be more impressive, either through its greater intensity, or through its
more agreeable timbre, or finally through its greater variety of tone, or
range of pitch. And thus the fortunate possessors of voices having these
superior qualities would, other things being equal, outdo their rivals.
Now this triumph of rich-voiced individuals in the contests of love would
have important after-results. If from generation to generation the females
of a particular species continue to choose males with fine voices, there
would be a gradual improvement of vocal powers generally, according to
Mr. Darwin’s well-known principle of sexual selection. By this means
any natural superiorities of voice would tend to be preserved, and the
average vocal capabilities of each succeeding generation increased. Nor
is this all. Along with this increased power of producing tones, there
would go an increased sensibility to the pleasurable effects of tone. And
this would be brought about in two different ways. In the first place the
continual performances of the male singers would, by exercising the
functions of the ear, tend to raise its sensibility. In the second place it is
plain that superior vocal powers in the male would, as a rule, co-exist with
superior auditory sensibility ; for the movements of the voice are always
guided by the effects on the ear. And thus sexual selection would tend
to improve the musical ear as much as the musical voice. In this way,
we think, might have been developed among all musical animals, including
the ancestors of man, the power of producing and of appreciating purity
of tone, richness of timbre, rhythm, and melody. Little by little, the
vocal organs would attain the necessary complexity, flexibility, and means
of adjustment, and little by little the ear would acquire the needed
nervous elements and their connections.” — Sully, J., in article before
quoted. (See Index, Sully, J.)

It is hoped that Mr. Sully will carry out his intention to publish this
careful, admirable paper in book form.

APPENDIX. 139

Why Birds Sing. (See p. 5.)

“The majority of ornithologists agree in ascribing an erotic character
to the songs of birds; not only the melting melodies, but also those of
their tones that are discordant to the human ear, are regarded as love-
notes. Darwin finally, saving some reserves, came to accept this view.
To be able to speak critically of the love-song, one should pay especial
regard to the love-life of birds. It would be to throw water into the sea
to add to what ornithological writers have advanced concerning the
exceeding vital worth and cosmical significance of love. Nevertheless, I
venture the opinion that the origin of the song-habit is to be found in
other sources as well as in this important factor, among which is the joy
of life, manifested in an irresistible determination to announce itself in
melody ; and that the song is more perfectly brought out in proportion
as this feeling is more highly developed in the organization. Birds in
freedom begin to sing long before pairing, and continue it, subject to
interruptions, long afterward, though all passion has been extinguished ;
and domesticated birds sing through the whole year without regard to
breeding-time, though no female or companion ever be in sight. Such
birds, born in captivity, never feel the loss of freedom; and if they are
well taken care of, are always hearty and in good spirits. The bird sings,
to a large extent, for his own pleasure; for he frequently lets himself out
lustily when he knows he is all alone. In the springtime of love, when
all life is invigorated, and the effort to win a mate by ardent wooing is
crowned with the joy of triumph, the song reaches its highest perfection.
But the male bird also sings to entertain his mate during the arduous
nest-building and hatching, to cheer the young, and if he be a domesticated
bird, to give pleasure to his lord and the providence that takes care of him,
and in doing so to please himself. Lastly, the bird sings —by habit, as
we call it— because the tendency is innate in the organs of song! to
exercise themselves.” — Placzeck, Dr. B. Translated from Kosmos. (Pop.
Sci. Mo., vol. xxvi., p. 542.)

“The matin-song of our American robin will convince any one who
observes closely that the witchery of the dewy, fragrant day-dawn is

1 “The modifications of these organs presented by the different species
are slight; the parts in all I have examined being the same, and with
the same number of muscles. The peculiar song of different species must
therefore depend on circumstances beyond our cognition; for surely
no one could imagine the reason that the rook and the hooded crow re-
quire as complex an apparatus to produce their unmusical cries as that
which the blackbird and the nightingale employ in modulating their
voices, so as to give rise to those melodies which are so delightful to us;
and yet the knife, and the needle, and the lens do not enable us to detect any
superior organization in the warbler over the crow.” — Macgillivray.

140 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Way Birps Sina. — Contin.

the bird’s inspiration, and no person who has heard the mocking-bird’s
dreamy night-lay can doubt that it is a fine expression of the nocturnal
influence.

“Indeed, all our birds use what we call their voices, just as we use
ours, for the purposes of expression generally ; and I am convinced that
bird-song proper, though oftenest the expression of some phase of the
tender passion, is not confined to such expression. . . . I have watched
birds at their singing under many and widely differing circumstances,
and I am sure that they express joyous anticipation, present content,
and pleasant recollection, each as the mood moves, and all with equal
ease.” — Thompson, M.: Sylvan Secrets, pp. 74, 75, 78.

See Spencer, H.: Origin and Function of Music. (Fraser’s Mag.,
vol. lvi., 1857, p. 396.) (A postscript to this essay is to be found in Pop.
Sci. Mo., vol. xxxviii., November, 1890.)

“The act of singing is evidently a pleasurable one; and it probably
serves as an outlet for superabundant nervous energy and excitement,
just as dancing, singing, and field sports do with us.” — Wallace, A. R. :
Darwinism (London, 1889), p. 284.

For criticism of Darwin’s theory of the origin of bird-song, see Mivart,
St. G.: Lessons from Nature, etc. (London, 1876), pp. 312-313.

Organs of Song.

On this point we are still where Father Kircher left off
in 1650. If song depended on the larynx, he says, the
hog would sing beautifully; adding, “quod ridiculum ne
dicam stolidum esset afferere” (Musurgia, bk. 1, chap. xiv.).

See Agassiz and Gould: Principles of Zodlogy, pt. 1 (Boston, 1866),
pp. 65-66.— Axon, W. E. A.: Voice of Animals. (Brit. Alma., 1885,
pp. 104-114.) — Encyclo. Brit., vol. iii. Article “ Birds,” respiratory and
vocal organs. — Blanchard, £.: Voice in Man and in Animals. Tr. by
J. Fitzgerald. (Pop. Sci. Mo., vol. ix., August and September, 1876, pp.
385-398, 513-523.) — Buckland, F.: Natural Trumpet of the Crane.
(Pop. Sci. Mo., vol. ix., 1876, pp. 187-140. From “Land and Water.”) —
Hérissant, in Memoirs of the Roy. Acad. at Paris, quoted in Gents. Mag.,
vol. xxix., 1759, pp. 119-120. — Macgillivray, W.: Hist. of Brit. Birds,
vol. ii. p. 34.— Miiller, J.: Researches on the comparative anatomy of
the vocal organs of birds. (Berlin Akad. Abhand., 1845.) — Yarrell, W.:
Hist. of Brit. Birds, vol. ii. p. 71.

APPENDIX. 141
Orcans or Sona. — Contin.

INSECTS.

For musical organs and music of insects, see Domestic Habits of
Birds, Lib. of entertaining knowl, (London,1833), pp. 225-246 — Musicians
of our Woods. (Harp. Mag., vol. xix. 1859, pp. 323-837.) —New Mo.
Mag., vol. iii, pt. 3, June 1, 1827, p. 269. — Taylor, Charlotte: Musicians
of Field and Meadow. (Harp. Mag., vol. xxvi., 1862-63, pp. 495-501.)

Universal Effect of Music.

Be the scientific solution what it may, whether or not

“°T is love creates their melody, and all
This waste of music is the voice of love,”

we know that music is pleasurable to man, and its con-
tinuous presence throughout the animal kingdom indicates
that it is pleasurable also to the beings beneath him.
Why should not the subtile power of music extend from
man down to the smallest creature? The author of Job
and Shakespeare record its effect on the horse, and similar
testimony is to be met with in all literatures ancient and
modern.
Music-Lovine Cows.

“Opposite to our house was a large field in which some twelve or thir-
teen cows were put during the summer months. One day a German band
commenced to play on the road which divided the house from the field.
The cows were quietly grazing at the other end of the field, but no sooner
did they hear the music than they at once advanced toward it, and stood
with their heads over the wall attentively listening. This might have
passed unnoticed, but upon the musicians going away the animals fol-
lowed them as well as they could on the other side of the wall, and when
they could get no farther stood lowing piteously. So excited did the
cows become that some of them ran’ round and round the field to try
to get out, but finding no outlet returned to the corner where they had
lost sight of the band; and it was some time before they seemed satisfied
that the sweet sounds were really gone.” — American Naturalist.

142 WOOD NOTES WILD.

UNIVERSAL EFFect oF Music. — Contin.

How Aa CHIPMUNK FOLLOWED A FIDDLE.

“One day last week a traveller on the Newmanville road so charmed a
chipmunk with music produced from a violin that the little rodent became
very tame and followed him for about a mile. When the music ceased it
resumed its wild nature and scampered back home.” —~ From the Tionesta
Commonwealth.

See Animal Love of Music. (Harp. Mag., vol. xv., 1857, pp. 83-

.85.) — Effect of Music on Lower Animals. (All the Year,N. 8. vol. xxx.,

Dec., 1882, p. 538.) — Fish, E. E.: Birds’ Tastes for Color and Music.
(Pop. Sci. Mo., vol. xxv., 1884, pp. 715-716.) — Hawkins, Sir John: Hist.
of Music, vol. ii. bk. 19, chap. 178, p. 835. — Kircher, A.: Musurgia,
lib. ix.— Music of the Wild. (Litt. Liv. Age, vol. xxi., 1849, pp. 475~
476.) —Nat. Hist. of Birds (Harper & Bros., 1840), pp. 241-246.—
Phenomena of Music. (£clec. Mag., n. 8. vol. ix., 1869, pp. 368-372.) —
Pontécoulant, Marquis de: Les Phénoménes de la Musique. (Lib. Inter-
nationale, Paris, 1868.) —Schele de Vere, M. R. B.: Music in Nature.
(Putnam’s Mag., x. 8. vol. vi., 1870, pp. 173-182.) — Stearns, R. C.: In-
stances of the Effects of musical Sounds of Animals, (Amer. Naturalist,
vol. xxiv., 1890, pp. 22, 123, 236.)

Effect of Music On Snakes. See Romanes, G. J.: Animal Intelli-
gence, chap. ix. p. 265. Own SripErs, same work, chap. vi. pp. 205-207.

Esthetic sense denied to animals. See Viardot, L., in Pop. Sci. Mo.,
vol. iv., 1873, pp. 729-735. (Trans. from Gazette des Beaux Arts.)

Chickadee. (See p. 8.)

Flagg speaks of “two very plaintive notes” of the
chickadee, which he writes as follows: —

mw i a ity
“They have a great variety of simple or quaint notes, all of which seem
to be expressive of perpetual happiness, for many of them are constantly
repeated throughout the year, and none are restricted to one season.
Besides their well-known chant, ‘ chick-a-dee-dee-dee-dee,’ which has given
them their name,! they have an exquisite whistle of two notes (nearly
represented by high G and F, upon the piano), which is very sweet and

1 The Chippewa Indians name the black-cap Kitch-i-kitch-i-gé-ne-shi.

APPENDIX. 143

CHICKADEE. — Contin.

clear, and various minor but equally expressive notes (among them a
simple tsip), as well as certain guttural cries, one of which sounds like a
rapid utterance of the French phrase “tout de suite,” and is indicative,
as it were, of the restless disposition of these birds.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-
birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 62.

Wood-Pewee. (See p. 8; also p. 64.)

“They have all written about it; but I say again, it
surprises ne more and more that so peculiar, so plaintive,
so religious a song has received almost no attention.
Wilson tries to tell what he says; but heavens! what he
sings is the thing to attend to. My words for his music
are these : —

gy fo
= = rH
17m -1 t i mad T = ri | oa | om a t r J 5 { = ii]
cer B = i je t t c t oy
Hear, O Lord! Hear, I pray! A- men, A- men.

You see how much there is in that little, and how much
of interest can be said that has never been said. And is
it not interesting to find this singer and the wood-thrush
in B flat minor. There; I can’t afford to enlighten you
further this time. The birds are an increasing wonder,
and their music is by far their most wonderful endow-
ment. It seems to me I can do something to make this
plainer.” — C., S. P., in a letter dated June 17, 1885.

Mr. Burroughs mentions the “sweet pathetic cry” of
the wood-pewee; but the devotional element in the songs
of these two birds seems not. to have impressed the writers
generally. In a delightful passage from the pen of Dr.
Coues we find the song inspired by “ mournful fancies.”

“Wherever it may fix its home, whether in the seclusion of sylvan re-
treats or in the vicinity of man’s abode, its presence is soon made known

144 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Woop-PrewEr.— Contin.

by its oft-repeated melancholy notes, seeming to speak some settled sorrow
that time can never heal. The sighing of the pines is not more expressive
of mournful fancies than the sobbing of the little sombre-colored bird, flit-
ting apparently inconsolable through their shades.” — Stearna, W. A.: N.E.
Bird-Life, part ii. p. 29.

“The wood-pewees possess a sufficient variety of notes to characterize
several species. All these sounds are nearly whistles, uttered in a plain-
tive and often a drawly tone. None of them are loud, and many are audi-
ble only at a very short distance. The most characteristic of these notes is
pee-u-ee, often abbreviated to pee-u, and this is frequently repeated. Other
syllables, less often heard, are (ch’) pe-0-e, whit, whit-pe’e, and pu pu pu pu,
uttered very softly. In addition to these there are certain querulous and
guttural cries, which are employed chiefly during the season of love.”
Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 283,

Nuttall reports the wood-pewee busy watching its “ in-
sect prey”: “It then again alights as before, sometimes
uttering a sort of gratulatory low twitter, accompanied
by a quivering of the wings and tail; and in the lapse
of its employment, in a feeble, sighing tone, often cries
pee-wee or pee-e', and sometimes pe!-wee pewittitee or pe-

wittee spe'-wee,”
See Lunt, H.: Across Lots (Boston, cop. 1888), p. 97.

Bluebird. (See p. 11.)

“The only song of the bluebirds is a repetition of a ‘sadly-pleasing’
but cheerful warble of two or three notes, tinged (so to speak) by a
mournful tone. This they often give utterance to when on wing, as
well as when perched. In autumn, and when with their young, their
usual note is a single sad whistle; but they occasionally use a peculiar
chatter as a call-note to their young, whose notes differ from those of
their parents.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p, 62.

“At this season [early spring] before the earnest robin pours out his
more energetic lay from the orchard tree or fence-rail, the simple song of
this almost domestic favorite is heard nearly alone ; and if at length he be
rivalled at the dawn of day by superior and bolder songsters, he still re-
lieves the silence of late hours by his unwearied and affectionate attempts
to please and accompany his devoted mate. All his energy is poured out

*

APPENDIX, 145

BLueEBIRD. — Contin.

into this simple ditty, and with an ecstatic feeling of delight he often
raises and quivers his wings like the mocking Orpheus; and amidst his
striving rivals in song, exerts his utmost powers to introduce variety into
his unborrowed and simple strain.” — Nuttall, T.: Manual of the Ornith. of
the U. S, and Canada, 2d ed. (Land-birds), pp. 510-511.

Bluebird and Robin.

The hold that these familiar heralds of spring have on
the heart is well illustrated by passages in “ Birds of Bering
Sea and the Arctic Ocean,” by E. W. Nelson. One can
hardly imagine the effect of a tuneful bird-song in a region
so desolate and cold that the croak of the raven sounds
sweeter there than the warbling of the nightingale heard
from out its native boughs.

“Tt is a pleasant experience for one in a far-off region like this to come
across the familiar forms known in other days. The sight of this bird
gleaning its food about the houses on a frosty spring morning in May car-
ries one’s mind back from sterile Arctic scenery to the blossoming orchards,
the hum of bees, and such other pleasant sounds and sights of Nature as
go to make up a beautiful spring day in lower latitudes. One misses, how-
ever, the warbling strain of the bluebird, and the cheerless surroundings
soon bring the stern reality too closely home. The birds, too, seem im-
pressed with the gloomy surroundings, and I have never heard them utter
their notes during the time of their visits to the sea-coast. In the wooded
interior, however, they regain their spirits and rear their young even
north of the circle; and here their cheering notes enliven the wooded
river-courses during the long summer days, in striking contrast to the
silence of a few months earlier, when a deathly hush made the shadows of
the forests a fitting haunt for the wolf and wolverines.

“There is no record of the occurrence of the robin in Northeastern
Asia that I have found, although as before mentioned it undoubtedly is a
casual visitant to that region. Elliott found a single bird wind-bound
upon the Seal Islands, beyond which there is no record of its occurrence
on any of the islands in Bering Sea.”—Nelson, E. W.: Birds of Bering
Sea and the Arctic Ocean. (U.S. Pab. Docs., Cruise of Corwin, 1881.)

For description of Robin’s song, see Higginson, T. W.: Out-door
Papers, p. 305.

10

146 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Song-Sparrow. (Sec p. 23.)

The late Mr. Harry Leverett Nelson, of Worcester, must
have received much the same impression from the sing-
ing of the song-sparrow.

“At this season” [April], he writes, “this beautiful singer cannot be
mistaken, uttering three or four pipes, or whistles, followed by canary-like
trills and quavers, not very loud, but spirited and vivacious. There is,
perhaps, no other of our birds whose song varies so much in detail and
execution, though the quality and theme are always the same; and
sometimes the same singer will give us five or six different variations in
rapid succession without changing his perch.” — Nelson, H. L,: Bird-songs
about Worcester, p. 10.

See Ingersoll, E., in Friends Worth Knowing, chap. vii. pp. 171-181.
See also Bicknell, E. P.: Song-sparrow, in his Study of the Singing of
our Birds. (The Auk, vol. i., 1884, pp. 65, 70; vol. ii., 1885, pp. 147~149.)

Mr. Torrey does not find the theme “always the same.”

“The song-sparrow . . . will repeat one melody perhaps a dozen times,
then change it for a second, and in turn leave that for a third, as if he
were singing hymns of twelve or fifteen stanzas each, and set each hymn
to its appropriate tune. It is something well worth listening to, common
though it is,and may easily suggest a number of questions about the ori-
gin and meaning of bird music.” — Torrey, B.: Birds in the Bush, p. 40.

“The song of the song-sparrow is sweet, lively, and poured out with
an energy which doubles its charm. It has several variations, which
might excusably be attributed to two or three species; but the one most
often heard is that which they give utterance to in the spring. This is
an indescribable song, characteristic of itself. It usually begins with a
thrice-repeated note followed by the sprightly part of the music, con-
cluding with another note which, like the first, is often tripled.” — Minot,
H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 206.

“ When he first arrives, while the weather is yet doubtful and unsettled,
the strain appears contemplative, and often delivered in a peculiarly low
and tender whisper, which, when harkened to for some time, will be found
more than usually melodious, seeming as a sort of revery, or innate hope
of improving seasons, which are recalled with a grateful, calm, and tender
delight. At the approach of winter, this vocal thrill, sounding like an
Orphean farewell to the scene and seasons, is still more exquisite, and

APPENDIX. 147

Sone-SparRow. — Contin.

softened by the sadness which seems to breathe almost with sentiment,
from the decaying and now silent face of Nature.” — Nuttall, T.: Manual
of the Ornith. of the U. S. and Canada, pp. 563-564.

“The song-sparrow flushes with music as soon as winter relaxes in the
least, finding full voice in March, when those who have worried through
the cold greet the new arrivals from the South, and all together fill a chorus
to which the shrubbery resounds unceasingly, till some sharp wind comes
along to remind the birds that time is fleeting, though their art be never
solong. But the storm must repeat its warnings to dampen even an ardor
that is never entirely quenched; for passion lingers long in the breasts
that have once felt the glow, and it takes a good while to sober the song-
sparrows after their summer’s hey-day. We still hear their trill, like a
memory rather than a hope, when the woods and fields have reached the
golden gates of fruition.” — Stearns, W. A.: New England Bird-Life (ed.
by Dr. Elliott Coues), part i. p. 257.

For interesting notes on song periods, the effect of the moult and
fatness on the singing of birds, and on the peculiarities of vocal delivery,
etc., see Bicknell, E. P.: A Study of the Singing of our Birds. (The
Auk, vol. i., 1884, pp. 60, 126, 209, 322; vol. ii., 1885, pp. 144, 249.)

White-bellied Nuthatch. (See p. 29.)

This briefest paper of all throws more light on the
character of the author than many of the longer ones.
At the time it was written he was surrounded by affec-
tionate friends, and yet he could say that this little sprite
was one of the most “intimate” and “important” of
them. The words are literally true. Almost the last
thing he wrote was a further description of this bird:

“On the coldest winter day, when all seems turning to
ice, what staggers our reason and commands our admira-
tion more than to see a bit of flesh and bone not larger
than your thumb, done up in feathers in such a way as
to defy the cold, darting round, running up and down
rough sides of the great forest-trees, with his little wire

148 WOOD NOTES WILD.

WaitE-sELuiep Nutsatcu. — Contin.

legs not larger than a darning-needle and quite as naked,
and toes the size of a hair, with an activity and rapidity
reminding us of electricity itself? And this is only his
regular exercise while getting his breakfast.”

Field-Sparrow. (See p. 35.)

“TI find more and more that the birds extemporize,! and
that those of the same species do not sing alike. All
summer in Lynn the field-sparrows ‘went up’ accelerando
é crescendo. Were, twenty times a day, I hear them
going down, down every time, and diminishing, — just re-
versing it. It is a ‘queer’ thing, but there is no mistake
about it. Again, the indigo-bird sings nothing here that
I heard from him in Lynn.

“But nobody can tell me what ‘feller’ sings, —

He is the ‘lost chord.’ I knew the song well when a
boy.; heard it once at Maple Grove, but could not see the
bird.” — C., S. P. in a letter dated August, 1888.

“T must not omit to say that occasionally one may hear
the field-sparrow reverse the order of the melody here

given by descending after the opening monotones.” — Note
written by the author on his field-sparrow paper after its appearance in
the Century Magazine.

1 See Index, Extemporizing.

APPENDIX. 149

Freip-Sparrow. — Contin.

Mr. Torrey gives much the same description of the
field-sparrow. He finds the song, however, a “strict
monotone”: —

“One more of the innovators (these heretics, as they are most likely
called by their more conservative brethren) is the field-sparrow, better
known as Spizella pusilla. His usual song consists of a simple line of
notes, beginning leisurely, but growing shorter and more rapid to the close.
The voice is so smooth and sweet, and the acceleration so well managed,
that, although the whole is commonly a strict monotone, the effect is not
in the least monotonous. This song I once heard rendered in reverse
order, with a result so strange that I did not suspect the identity of the
singer till I had crept up within sight of him. Another of these spar-
rows, who has passed the last two seasons in my neighborhood, habitually
doubles the measure, going through it in the usual way, and then, just as
you expect him to conclude, catching it up again, Da capo.” — Torrey, B.:
Birds in the Bush, pp. 39-40,

Linnet. (See p. 37.)

“There is a strong resemblance to the song of the warbling vireo,
and it was undoubtedly this finch which Thoreau tells us in his Journal
he heard in April, and was unable to identify.” — Nelson, H.L. : Bird-
songs about Worcester, p. 25.

“He stands at the head of the finches, as the hermit at the head of the
thrushes.” — Burroughs, J.: Wake-robin, p. 69.

White-throated Sparrow. (Sce p. 42)

e Notwithstanding the slighting manner in which the song of this bird
is spoken of by some writers, in certain parts of the country its clear,
prolonged, and peculiar whistle has given to it quite a local fame and
popularity. Among the White Mountains, where it breeds abundantly,
it is known as the peabody bird, and its remarkably clear whistle re-
sounds in all their glens and secluded recesses. Its song consists of
twelve distinct notes, which are not unfrequently interpreted into various
ludicrous travesties. As this song is repeated with no variations, and
quite frequently from early morning until late in the evening, it soon
becomes quite monotonous.” — Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway: North Amer-
ican Birds, vol, i., Land-Birds, p. 576.

150 WOOD NOTES WILD.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. — Contin.

“The ordinary note of the white-throated sparrows is a rather feeble
‘tseep,’ much like that of the fox-colored sparrows, and indeed of other
birds. Their song is sweet, clear, and exquisitely delicate, consisting of
whistled notes which have been likened to the words, ‘Old Sam Peabody,
Peabody, Peabody, Peabody.’ This song is often somewhat varied, and
again snatches or parts of it are sometimes sung. It is more often
whistled in the morning and at evening than at any other times of the
day, and it may be sometimes heard at night.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds
and Game-birds of N. E., p. 219.

“In New England, the song of the green warbler is interpreted as a
prayer to Saint Theresa. In Michigan, a lover of bird-music has given
the same interpretation to the song of the white-throated sparrow, Zono-
trichia albicollis, Bonap. The latter is heard sometimes in the natural
groves bordering the outskirts of the newer villages, in the northern
part of the State, but generally only in the wilder and more desolate
depths of the forest. The notes are inimitably clear, sweet, and plain-
tive; and it requires only a moderate play of the imagination to convert
the song into the petition, ‘Oh hear me, Theresa, Theresa, Theresa !’

“It is not easy to express bird-songs by musical notation. In this case
we may approximate success by using the flute stop of a cabinet organ,
giving a half-note each in C, G, and E of the second octave of the treble
clef, followed lightly by three eighth-notes and an eighth-rest in E, twice
repeated, as follows: —

“The first three measures correspond to the words ‘Oh hear me,’ and
the last three to the name of the saint, ‘ Theresa,’ three times pronounced,
with the accent on the first syllable. The arrangement of musical sounds
indicated above appears to constitute the most perfect and complete form
of the song; but it is varied in different localities and by different per-
formers, as if among birds of the same species there were different degrees
of musical talent and different fashions in musical education. In one
place, where I had excellent opportunities to listen, the last three meas-
ures were seldom heard,! or when heard, consisted each of a half-note.
Of the first three half-notes, one or other is sometimes omitted. The song
is sometimes heard in the night.

1 Was not this due rather to the season than to the place? See p. 43.

APPENDIX. 151

WHITE-THROATED Sparrow. — Contin.

“T suspect this interesting bird is an accomplished ventriloquist. On
one occasion I listened for some time to what seemed to be two birds, in
different directions and not far off, but hidden from view. The C note
was omitted. One would sing two notes in G, which would be followed
in perfect time by two in E by the other bird. I was strongly impressed
at the time with the idea that there was only one singer present, and that
the song, sweet and beautiful, was a skilful display of ventriloquism.” !
Leach, M. L.: Song of the White-throated Sparrow. (Swiss Cross, vol. iii, May,
1888, pp. 145-146.)

Dr. Leach’s notation is very similar to that of the white-
throat’s song as heard in the provinces of New Brunswick
and Nova Scotia, — “as clear and accurate a melody as
can be given forth by any human songster ”: —

Common form. —~

A second form.
| 7A - r 3 | #£ ms F 2. r: T By

——— a
J = t as iw ise L { ine if —- Hi [2 si}
Ld vw a vw A v v ve v a

A rarer form.

~—]— a 3 : 7 3 1}
ag Eis i i i tt i u
v v 7 ov ¥ o 4 v 7

If we rule out the testimony of Juliet about the lark,
this writer has the honor of being perhaps the second to

1 “T first heard it [the ventriloquist dove (Geopelia tranquilla, Gould) ]
on the marshes of the Macquarie, but could not see it. The fact is that it
has the power of throwing its voice to a distance, and I mistook it for
some time for the note of a large bird on the plains, and sent a man more
than once to shoot it, without success.” — Sturt, Capt. C.: Narr. of an
Exped. into Central Australia (Lond., 1849), vol. ii. app. p. 45. See
Miiller, Karl: Ein Lieblingsvogel des Volkes. (Gartenlaube, 1876,
p. 300.)

For ventriloquism explained by rapid changes of position, see Jefferies,
R.: Wild life in a Southern County (Boston, 1889), pp. 195, 196.

152 WOOD NOTES WILD.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. — Contin.

report that the birds sing out of tune: “The B in the last
form was often sung most outrageously flat.” — Goodwin,
W. L.: Music in Nature. (Nature, vol. xxxvii., 1887-88, pp. 151-152.)

A. G. Wilkinson heard what he took for the white-
throat’s singing on the Dartmouth River. ‘“ Between each
double bar is a single song. Numbers 1 and 2 are
different songs of one bird, and Numbers 3 and 4 are songs
of another bird”: —

Andante.

(In Mayer, A. M., ed.: Sport with Gun and Rod, p. 436.)

“There is one other bird worthy of distinction from a similar quality of
music. I refer to the white-throated sparrow. I give their song, like
the thrush’s, a simple melody, and yet, like the thrush’s, true to the
human scale, and of course true to the law of harmony. I awoke, one
morning, five thousand feet above tide-water, to a concert of these birds,
such as no man ever heard at a lower elevation, and such as I never ex-
pect to hear repeated. There seemed to be half a dozen within a stone’s
throw, and all pouring out their welcome to the new day. But mind you
this fact, it was a solo concert; as each in turn uttered its simple melody,
not one infringed on the time of another or gave a note except in regular
succession. I marked four distinct variations in their song, which I give,
and which you will see are all common chords of the human scale:” —

fa” a.
— —— —- a
et } — ee ee
a t+ ot an

(Horsford, B., in a letter to the Editor, dated October, 1890.)

See Burroughs, J.: Wake-robin, p. 87.

APPENDIX. 153

W5HITE-THROATED SpaRRow. — Contin.

The typical songs of two Pacific coast cousins of the
white-throat are recorded in Zoe, vol. i., 1891, p. 72, by
C. A. Keeler.

GAMBEL’s WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW. GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW.
(Z. leucophrys gambeli.) (Z. Coronata.)

Morning Song.

Mr. Horsford having given us an account of a morning
concert in New England, let us listen to a report of one in
the “gorgeous and sunny Jamaica” : —

“In these excursions I was interested in marking the successive awak-
ening of the early birds. Passing through the wooded pastures and
Guinea-grass fields of the upland slopes, while the stars were twinkling
overhead ; while as yet no indication of day appeared over the dark moun-
tain-peak, no ruddy tinge streamed along the east; while Venus was blaz-
ing like a lamp, and shedding as much light as a young moon, as she
climbed up the clear, dark heaven among her fellow-stars, — the night-jars
were unusually vociferous, uttering their singular note, ‘ wittawittawit,’
with pertinacious iteration, as they careered in great numbers, flying low,
as their voices clearly indicated, yet utterly indistinguishable to the sight
from the darkness of the sky across which they flitted in their triangular
traverses. Presently the flat-bill uttered his plaintive wail, occasionally
relieved by a note somewhat less mournful. When the advancing light
began to break over the black and frowning peaks, and Venus waned,
the peadove from her neighboring wood commenced her fivefold coo,
hollow and moaning. Then the petchary, from the top of a tall cocoa-
palm, cackled his three or four rapid notes, “OP, PP, P, Q;” and from
a distant wooded hill, as yet shrouded in darkness, proceeded the rich,
mellow, but broken song of the hopping-dick-thrush, closely resembling
that of our own blackbird. Now the whole east was ruddy.

154 WOOD NOTES WILD.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. — Contin.

“The harsh screams of the clucking hen came up from a gloomy gorge,
and from the summit of the mountain were faintly heard the lengthened
flute-like notes, in measured cadence, of the solitaire! Then mocking-
birds all around broke into song, pouring forth their rich gushes and
powerful bursts of melody, with a profusion that filled the ear, and over-
powered all the other varied voices, which were by this time too numerous
to be separately distinguished, but which all helped to swell the morning
concert of woodland music.” — Gosse, P. H.: Romance of Nat. Hist., pp. 17-18.

For night songs see Index, Night Songs.

RHYTHM.

The author asserts of the white-throated sparrow that
the “ charm of his song lies in the rhythm.” The writers
on bird music are quite at odds on the point of rhythm.
Mr. Maurice Thompson says : —

“There is no such an element as the rhythmic beat in any bird-song
that I have heard. Modulation and fine shades of ‘color,’ as the musical
critic has it, together with melodious phrasing, take the place of rhythm.
The meadow-lark, in its mellow fluting, comes very near to a measure of
two rhythmic beats, and the mourning dove puts a throbbing cadence into
its plaint ; but the accent which the human ear demands is wholly want-
ing in each case.

“ The absence of true rhythm probably is significant of a want of power
to appreciate genuine music, the bird’s comprehension compassing no more
than the value of sweet sounds merely as such.” — Thompson, M.: Sylvan
Secrets, pp. 77, 83.

Mr. Thompson offers the suggestion that the “chief
difference between the highest order of bird-music and the
lowest order of man-music is expressed by the word
rhythm.” It is more natural to suspect that the order of
development in bird melody is similar to that in human
melody, hence that rhythm is the first step. At any rate,

1 See Index, Solitaire.

APPENDIX. 155

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW. — Contin.

we may go so far as to say with Mr. Tully that there is in
bird music “clearly an adumbration of the simpler forms
of rhythm.”

See Index, Beckler (note). See also Index, Cuckoo; also Hermit
Thrush, where the song is reported as suggesting the “opening of a
grand overture.”

Fox-colored Sparrow. (See p. 44.)

Mr. Torrey finds a “thrush-like” quality in the song of
the fox-sparrow; more, however, of the cardinal grosbeak.
(A happy report of a song contest between a fox-sparrow
and a song-sparrow is to be found in his “ Birds in the
Bush,” pp. 219-220.) Mr. Burroughs speaks briefly but
decidedly : —

“Tt is a strong, richly modulated whistle, the finest sparrow note I
have ever heard.” — Burroughs, J. : Wake-robin, p. 163.

“During their stay in the United States these birds keep in small
distinctive flocks, never mingling, though often in the same places, with
other species. They are found in the edge of thickets and in moist woods.
They are usually silent, and only occasionally utter a call-note, low and
soft. In the spring the male becomes quite musical, and is one of our
sweetest and most remarkable singers. His voice is loud, clear, and
melodious ; his notes full, rich, and varied ; and his song is unequalled by
any of this family that I have ever heard.”— Baird, Brewer, and
Ridgway : North Am. Birds. Land-Birds, vol. ii. p. 52.

Chewink. (See p. 45.)

Mr. Torrey, too, finds the chewink “ taking liberties with
his score”: “ He carries the matter so far that sometimes
it seems almost as if he suspected the proximity of some
self-conceited ornithologist, and were determined, if pos-
sible, to make a fool of him” (Jn his Birds in the Bush,

p. 39).

156 WOOD NOTES WILD.

CHEWINK. — Contin.

See Index, Extemporizing. See also Knapp, J. L.: Eng. Song
Thrush, in his Journal of a Naturalist (London, 1838), p. 270.

Mr. Flagg seems not to find that the chewink extem-
porizes. “His song,” he says, “consists of two long notes,
the first about a third above the second, and the last part
made up of several rapidly uttered liquid notes, about one
tone below the first note :” —

In his A Year with the Birds, p. 96.

Mr. Flagg and our author are far apart on the more
common song of the chewink.

Yellow Warbler. (See p. 47.)

Mr. Nelson’s description of this song could: not follow
closer the musical notation in the present volume had it
been written with the music before his eyes: “ Five or six
pipes, ending abruptly in a sharp quaver, the whole uttered
with great rapidity.”

Yellow Warbler and Goldfinch.

Between the vocal powers of this bird and the goldfinch,
(Chrysomitris tristis), indiscriminately classed with him
as one of the “ yellow-birds,” there is a noteworthy differ-
ence. The goldfinch is a rival of his famous relative, the
canary :—

“No one of our birds has a sweeter voice than the goldfinch, and its
plaintive che-wé, che-wéah as it balances on an aster-head, or rises and falls

APPENDIX. 157

YELLOW WARBLER AND GOLDFINCH. — Contin.

in its billowy flight, is one of the most delicious of rural sounds. But in
spring the male has a love-song excelled by few other birds. It is ‘sweet,
brilliant and pleasing . . . now ringing like the loud voice of the canary,
now sinking into a soft warble.’ ” —Ingersoll, E., and others: Habits of
Animals.

Chestnut-sided Warbler. (Sce notation on p. 49.)

[The song of the chestnut-sided warbler] “is attractive and musical,
though containing but a few simple notes. One variation resembles the
syllables weé-see-weé-see-weé-see (each of which is higher than the
preceding, except the sixth, which is lower than the fifth). The other
common variation is almost exactly like the song of the little yellow-
bird, and consequently like that of various other warblers.” — Minot,
H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 108,

See Lunt, H.. Across Lots, p. 122.
Mr. Burroughs describes the song of the chestnut-sided warbler as
“fine and hurried.”

Black-throated Green Warbler. (See p. 48.)

“This song is something like the syllables ta-te-te-t-td-tee, uttered ina
plaintive tone,— the first syllable low, the second higher, the third and
fourth quickly together and high, and the fifth and sixth a little slower
and lower. Its song is peculiar, and cannot be confounded with that of
any other warbler in New England.” — Samuels, E, A.: Our Northern and
Eastern Birds, p. 224.

“The ordinary notes of the ‘black-throated greens’ are numerous,
being a tsip, a chick, which is sometimes soft and sometimes loud, a check,
a, chuck, which is used chiefly as a note of alarm, and a sharp chink, which
is generally indicative of distress. Their song has several variations, of
which the two most often heard are weé-see-weé-see-weé-see (in which the
middle notes are the highest) and wéé-séé-wée-see-séé (in which the second
note is higher than the rest, the second couplet uttered in a lively way,
and the other notes drawled out in a manner peculiar to this species).
To these simple chants a few terminal notes are not infrequently added,
which sometimes consist of a repetition, and rarely resemble those of
the ‘black-throated blue’s’ music. These songs are very characteristic ;
and if one has once heard them, he cannot often confound them with
those of other birds.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E.,
p. 119.

158 WOOD NOTES WILD.

BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. — Contin.

See Lunt, H.: Across Lots, p. 72.

Nuttall describes the black-throat’s song as a “ quaint and indolent ditty.”

For a pleasant chat about the warblers see Amory, Catherine: Birds
in Wood and Field. (Swiss Cross, vol. iv., 1888, no. 6, p. 162.)

Redstart. (See p. 51.)

Mr. Cheney was taking his bird-songs at Lynn and
Franklin while Mr. Nelson was making observations at
Worcester, and their reports—though neither knew of
the existence of the other — are even nearer together than
the localities where they were engaged.! Mr. Nelson de-
scribes the redstart’s song as “much resembling that of
the yellow warbler, though considerably shorter and
weaker.”

“The song of the redstart is simple and pleasing, but constantly varied.
Sometimes it is merely a rather shrill che-wée-o or che-wee-o-wée-o, at other
times it is che-wée-see-wée-see-wée, or a soft wée-see-wée-see-wee, much like
the song of the yellow-bird (D. estiva), and again a series or repetition
of a few gentle notes, which form an indefinite song.” — Minot, H. D.:
Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 131.

“Nuttall’s description of the movements of this brisk
bird sounds like one of the happier passages of Homer:

“He does not, like the loitering pewee, wait the accidental
approach of the insect prey ; but carrying the war amongst
them, he is seen flitting from bough to bough, or at times pur-
suing the flying troop of winged insects from the top of the
tallest tree in a zig-zag, hawk-like, descending flight, to the
ground, while the clicking of the bill declares distinctly both
his object and success.”

See also Lunt, H.: Across Lots, p. 103.

1 For another instance of close agreement with a second reporter see
Index, Wood Thrush.

APPENDIX. 159

Cat-bird. (See p. 52.)

“Next after the thrasher and the mocking-bird, ‘ prince of song,’ the
palm must be awarded to this humble tenant of the shrubbery for power
of mimicry and range of vocalization, as well as for sweetness of execution
in singing.” —Stearns, W. A.. N. E. Bird-life (ed. by Dr, E. Coues), parti.
p. 64,

See Our Birds. (New Eng. Mag, vol. i., 1831, pp. 227-230.)

Brown Thrush. (See p. 54.)

“Our brown thrush is a magnificent singer, albeit he is not of the best
school, being too ‘sensational’ to suit the most exacting taste. His song
is a grand improvisation: a good deal jumbled, to be sure, and without
any recognizable form or theme; and yet, like a Liszt rhapsody, it per-
fectly answers its purpose, — that is, it gives the performer full scope to
show what he can do with his instrument. You may laugh a little, if you
like, at an occasional grotesque or overwrought passage, but unless you
are well used to it you will surely be astonished. Such power and range
of voice; such startling transitions; such endless variety! And withal
such boundless enthusiasm and almost incredible endurance! Regarded
as pure music, one strain of the hermit thrush is to my mind worth the
whole of it; just asa single movement of Beethoven’s is better than a
world of Liszt transcriptions. But in its own way it is unsurpassable.” —
Torrey, B.: Birds in the Bush, p. 117.

“The song of this bird is difficult of description : it is a sort of confused
mixture of the notes of different birds, or rather seems to be, but is really
its own song, as different individuals all sing nearly alike. The fact
that it resembles the Mocking-bird in its medley of notes has caused it
to be called, in some localities, the Brown Mocker; and it is also sometimes
called the Mavis and Nightingale, from its habit of singing in the night
during the mating season.”— Samuels, E. A.: Our Northern and Eastern
Birds, p. 165.

For a tribute to the thrasher’s genius by one that “ crowns and anoints
him Prince of the Poets of the Wild-wood,” see Munger, C. A.: “Four
Amer. Birds.” (Putnam’s Mag., n. 8. vol. iii., 1869, pp. 728-729.)

Nicut Sones.

This nightingale by no means has the night to himself.
Not to speak of our home birds, the choir of his fellow

160 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Nieut Sones. — Contin.

singers across the water is large and strong enough for
broad day.

“Within one hour, from 11.30 P. m. to 12.30 a. m., I heard the cuckoo,
nightingale, thrush, wood-lark, reed-wren, white-throat, willow-wren. Soon
after 1 a.m. I heard, in addition to the foregoing, the chaffinch, the wren,
and the chiff-chaff; and after two o’clock there was such a general min-
gling of voices that it was possible only to distinguish the thrush, cuckoo,
chaffinch, and robin, whose utterances are so distinct as to be at all times
unmistakable. Far away on the borders of the New Forest, and among
the crowded slopes of Herefordshire, I have at night heard the golden
oriole, the ring-ousel, the water-ousel, and the gray wag-tail, — the last
to be seen as well as heard during moonlight at the midnight hour;
but none of these, so far as I know, visit the gardens near London.” —
Hibberd, S.: Minstrels of the Summer. (Intellectual Observer, vol. ii., Aug.,
1862, p, 19 )

Mocking-bird ot Jamaica.

“Tt is in the stillness of the night, when like his European namesake
[the nightingale], he delights —

‘With wakeful melody to cheer
The livelong hours,’

that the song of this bird is heard toadvantage. Sometimes, when, desirous
of watching the first flight of Urania Sloaneus, I have ascended the moun-
tains before break of day, I have been charmed by the rich gushes and
bursts of melody proceeding from the most sweet songster, as he stood on
tiptoe on the topmost twig of some sour-sop or orange-tree, in the rays of
the bright moonlight. Now he is answered by another, and now another
joins the chorus from the trees around, till the woods and savannahs are
ringing with the delightful sounds of exquisite and innocent joy.” — Gosse,
P. H.: Birds of Jamaica (London, 1847), p. 145.

Wood Thrush. (See p. 56.)

“But how much there is to learn!1_ And I cannot find
it in the books. I am more and more astonished that the

1 “His [the author’s] method of work was to ascertain the haunts of
the birds whose songs he wished to secure, and to seek them there, some-

APPENDIX. 161

Woop Turusu. — Contin

music of the birds has received so little attention. The
other evening I heard these notes : —

Is it not wonderful that a bird should give so exquisite a
succession of tones? No human genius can surpass it. I
repeat it, the birds have found out the beautiful and have
been our teachers.” — C., S. P., in a letter dated June 17, 1885.

“In elaborate technique and delicious portamento, it surpasses all the
other thrushes. .. . The wood thrushes, more than any other birds I
know of, exhibit various degrees of excellence, some individuals singing
much more beautifully than others.” — Nelson, H. L.: Birds songs about
Worcester, p. 46.

For variations in songs of birds of the same species, see Index: Songs,
Variations in.

“ The song of this thrush is one of its most remarkable and pleasing
characteristics. No lover of sweet sounds can have failed to notice it,
and having once known its source, no one can fail to recognize it when
heard again. The melody is one of great sweetness and power, and con-
sists of several parts, the last note of which resembles the tinkling of a

times with a friend, but oftener alone with his pitch-pipe and a scrap of
music-paper. When successful, he would return, elated and beaming, to
talk about his experience, and transfer the song he had taken, after writ-
ing it carefully over, to a sheet of music paper, for reference when he
should write up the description, later.

“He said that the first song of a bird, or rather on hearing a song for
the first time, it did not present itself clearly to his mind. It was only
after several repetitions that he unravelled it and was able to write it out.

“When at work, writing up his descriptions, he usually preferred to be
alone, but invariably would wish to read aloud what he had written and
talk about it, and would generally end by saying, even though changes
were suggested, ‘ Well, I’ll send it to just as it is and see what
he says to it.’ His best work was always done in the morning or first
part of the day.” — Cheney, Mrs. Julia C., in a letter to the editor, dated July
14, 1890, Franklin, Mass.

11

162 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Woop Turusu. — Contin.

small bell, and seems to leave the conclusion suspended. Each part of its
song seems sweeter and richer than the preceding.” — Baird, Brewer, and
Ridgway: North American Birds, Land-Birds, vol. i p. 9.

“The prelude to this song resembles almost the double-tonguing of the
flute, blended with a tinkling, shrill, and solemn warble, which re-echoes
from his solitary retreat like the dirge of some sad recluse, who shuns the
busy haunts of life. The whole air consists usually of four parts, or bars,
which succeed in deliberate time, and finally blend together in impressive
and soothing harmony, becoming more mellow and sweet at every repeti-
tion.” — Nuttall, T.: Manual of Ornithology, p. 391.

See Our Birds. (New Eng. Mayg., vol. i., 1881, pp. 330-331.)

Big-tree Thrush.

Mr. L. Belding, in his paper, “The Small Thrushes of
California” (Calif. Acad. Sci., Proceedings, 2d ser., vol. ii,
Oct. 1, 1889, pp. 68, 69), gives the song of the big-tree
thrush (Turdus sequotensis).

Compare first two measures of No. 1 with this : —

Woop TurRusai.

And first measure of No. 2 with this: —

Woop TuruvusH.

Sa

APPENDIX. 163

Big-TrRee Trrvsu. — Contin.
Mr. Belding writes under date January 6, 1891 : —

“T am familiar with the songs of the veery, of Mustelinus,
and all which breed in Northern Pennsylvania. The tone of
T. Sequotens?s is strikingly different from that of any thrush I
know, though it is remarkable that its most frequent song has
the identical intervals that the wood thrush has. I have lis-
tened to the song of 7. Sequotensis many, many hours, usually
toward evening, often when it was quite dark.”

Tawny Thrush. (See p. 58.)

“The song of this thrush is quaint, but not unmusical; variable in its
character, changing from a prolonged and monotonous whistle to quick
and almost shrill notes at the close. Their melody is not unfrequently
prolonged until quite late in the evening, and in consequence in some
portions of Massachusetts these birds are distinguished with the name of
Nightingale, — a distinction due rather to the season than to the high qual-
ity of their song. Yet Mr. Ridgway regards it, as heard by himself in Utah,
as superior in some respects to that of all others of the genus, though far
surpassed in mellow richness of voice and depth of metallic tone by that
of the Wood Thrush (7. mustelinus). To his ear there was a solemn har-
mony and a beautiful expression which combined to make the song of
this surpass that of all the other American Wood Thrushes. The beauty
of their notes appeared in his ears ‘really inspiring, their song consisting
of an inexpressibly delicate metallic utterance of the syllables ta-weel’ ah,
ta-weel’ ah, twil’ ah, twil’ ah, accompanied by a fine trill which renders it
truly seductive.’ The last two notes are said to be uttered in a soft and
subdued undertone, producing thereby, in effect, an echo of the others.” —
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway: North Amer. Birds. Land-Birds, vol. i. p. 10.

Mr. Nelson regards the veery’s as the most “spiritual” of all bird-
songs; Nuttall prefers the song of the wood-thrush.

See Our Birds. (New Eng. Mag., vol. i. 1831, p. 332.)

« All bird-songs are delicate things. It is impossible to
represent them in all respects. One can give only the
naked frame-work. The quality of tone and a thousand
graceful touches can only be heard. If ever my bird-songs

164 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Tawny Turvusu. — Contin.

come before the public, I shall expect to hear people
generally say, as they look at them, ‘Why! is that all!’
etc.,etc. The song of the Wilson thrush is an illustration
of what I mean. It is very short, but nothing can exceed
its bewitching beauty. It is all on the swing and jingle:”

f == aa ca

Letter from S. P. C. to Franklin Fairbanks, Esq., dated Jan. 3, 1886.

Hermit Thrush. (See p. 59.)

Mr. Nelson, in a careful comparison of the singing of
this thrush with that of the wood thrush and of the veery,
makes it stand out very distinctly. With his accustomed
accuracy, he mentions the abrupt change of key. (Jn his
Bird-songs about Worcester, p. 111.)

Mr. Burroughs describes the hermit’s song as higher in
key, “more wild and ethereal,” than that of the wood
thrush. “His instrument is a silver horn, which he
winds in the most solitary places. The song of the wood
thrush is more golden and leisurely. Its tone comes near
to that of some rare stringed instrument.” But finer than
all, the hermit’s song is to him “the voice of that calm,
sweet solemnity one attains to in his best moments. It
realizes a peace and a deep solemn joy that only the
finest souls may know.” (Jn his Wake-robin, pp. 33, 60.)

As Samuels heard the song of this thrush it was so
similar to that of the wood thrush that for a long time
he supposed it to be the wood thrush that was singing.
Not so Nuttall: —

APPENDIX. 165

Hermit Turvusu. — Contin.

“This species, so much like the nightingale in color, is scarce inferior
to that celebrated bird in its powers of song, and greatly exceeds the wood
thrush in the melody and sweetness of its lay.” — Zn his Manual of Orni-
thology, etc., p. 394,

“The song of this species is very fine, having many of the character-
istics of that of the Wood Thrush (7’. mustelinus). It is as sweet, has the
same tinkling sounds, as of a bell, but is neither so powerful nor so pro-
longed, and rises more rapidly in its intonations. It begins with low,
sweet notes, and ends abruptly with its highest, sharp, ringing notes.” —
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway: North American Birds. Land-Birds, vol. i. p. 19.

“At times the hermit thrush is heard chanting a low and musical
song, but it is destitute of those sweet, clear, and rich tones which charac-
terize the song of the wood thrush.” — Giraud, J. P., Jr.: Birds of Long
Island, p. 90.

See Horsford, B.: Our Wood Thrushes. (Forest and Stream, vol. xviii.,
May 25, 1882.)

Mr. Horsford writes that song No. 2 of this article
should read as follows: —

TuHrRvusH. Song No. 2.
The last note of each bar fades out in a soft cadence.

cp rt T —= O-
i. a eo os on = = ron
Ple- o - Ila, ple o - la(wut,wut,wut,wut)so la si
fal T nh
T + ll rs 7 hh
' o + t ce — a? Hi
{— PI ao L
Ple- o la (wut,wut) so las shurr-r-r-r ple o - Ia.

For further description of songs of the thrushes, see Amory, Catherine:
Birds in May. (Swiss Cross, vol. iii. no. 6, p. 1.) — Higginson, T. W.: Out-
door Papers, pp. 306-310. — Nehrling, H.: North Amer. Birds, part. i.

Oven-Bird. (See p. 62.)

Mr. Nelson was fortunate enough to hear the song heard
by others. To him it was a “delicious warble” and a
“love song.”

166 WOOD NOTES WILD.

OvEN-BIRD. — Contin.

“The ordinary song of the oven-bird, but for its inseparable association
with the quiet recesses of summer woods, would certainly seem to us mon-
otonous and commonplace; and the bird’s persistent reiteration of this
plain song might well lead us to believe that it had no higher vocal capa-
bility. But it is now well known that, on occasions, as if sudden emotions
carried it beyond the restrictions that ordinarily beset its expression, it
bursts forth with a wild outpouring of intricate and melodious song,
proving itself the superior vocalist of the trio of pseudo-thrushes of
which it is so unassuming a member. This song is produced on the
wing, oftenest when the spell of evening is coming over the woods.
Sometimes it may be heard as an outburst of vesper melody carried
above the foliage of the shadowy forest and descending and dying away
with the waning twilight.” — Bicknell, E. P.: A Study of the Singing of our
Birds. (The Auk, vol. i., July, 1884, p. 214.)

See Burroughs, J.,:; Wake-robin, pp. 65-66. — Lunt, H.: Across
Lots, p. 99.

Limit of Verbal Description.

That the oven-bird has a beautiful song is beyond
question, but many as the descriptions of it may be, can
we get from these a true idea of it, or of the song of any
other bird? The shape, size, color, habits, and haunts of
the bird are within reach of patience and care; but to
fasten the song, the “spirit,” as our author terms it, —
there it is that difficulty begins. The most accurate
musical notation cannot hope to reproduce the tone and
manner of delivery ; by how much the more is it true that
words must fail to approximate a report of what the birds
say. The oven-bird is a case in point: —

“Audubon calls it [the song of the oven-bird] a ‘simple lay’ and
again ‘a short succession of simple notes,’ — expressions that would give
one who had never heard its song an altogether incorrect idea of its true

character. Wilson is still more in error when he states that this bird has
no song, but an energetic twitter, when in fact it has two very distinct

APPENDIX. 167

Limit oF VERBAL Description. — Contin.

songs, each in its way remarkable. Nuttall describes its song as ‘a simple,
long, reiterated note, rising from low to high, and shrill;’ Richardson
speaks of it as ‘a loud, clear, and remarkably pleasing ditty;’ and Mr.
Allen calls it ‘a loud, echoing song, heard everywhere in the deep
woods.’-— Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway: North American Birds. Land-
Birds, vol. i. p. 282,

Night-Hawk. (See p. 66.)

“ At early evening, and in cloudy weather throughout the greater part
of the day, he ascends into the air; and when he has attained a consider-
able height, partially closing his wings, he drops with great velocity
through the distance of seventy-five or one hundred feet, sometimes
nearly to the earth. The sound made by the air passing through the
wing quills is so loud that I have often heard it at certainly the distance
of half a mile; it resembles, as Nuttall truly says, the sound produced
by blowing into the bung-hole of an empty hogshead. This act is often
repeated, the bird darting about at the same time in every direction, and
uttering his sharp squeak. Wilson was of the opinion that this habit of
the Night-Hawk was confined to the period of incubation; the male acting
in this manner, as he thought, to intimidate any person from approaching
the nest. I have had abundant opportunities for observing the bird in all
times of the summer, and during its stay with us; and I should unhesi-
tatingly affirm that from the time of early courtship until the young
are hatched, if not after, the male acts in this manner.” — Samuels, E. A. :
Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. 123.

“The male Night ‘Hawk’ produces an equally extraordinary sound,
which is heard chiefly during the season of courtship. Mounting to some
height, he falls, head foremost, until near the ground, when he checks his
downward course; and then the ‘booming’ is heard, a sound ‘resembling
that produced by blowing strongly into the bung-hole of an empty hogs-
head.’ I am uncertain as to what causes this noise, having found it
impossible to make any close observations. Wilson thought it produced
by the mouth, Audubon, by the concussion caused by a change of position
in the wings.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 299.

Whippoorwill. (See p. 68.)

“The whippoorwill interested me very much. He sings
in thirds, no other intervals,— just the same always. I had

168 WOOD NOTES WILD.

WH8HIPPOORWILL. — Contin.

good opportunities with him.” —G.,, S.P.,, in a letter dated
September, 1886.
“Rhythmical chain.” See Index, Rhythm.

Flagg says that the similarity between the notes of this
bird and those of the quail is so great that they might
be taken as identical. As here given, both the rhythm
and the intervals are very different. (Jn his A Year with
the Birds, pp. 197-198.)

Oriole. — Variations in bird-song. (See p. 71.)

One of the foremost among our naturalists, Mr. J. A.
Allen, had the good fortune to hear an unusual oriole song.
Speaking of the variation in the vocal powers of birds of
the same species, he says: —

“ But the strangest example of this sort I have noticed, I think, was
the case of an Oriole (Icterus Baltimore) that I heard at Ipswich last
season. So different were its notes from the common notes of the Balti-
more that I failed entirely to refer them to that bird till I saw the author.
So much, however, did it resemble a part of the song of the Western
Meadow Lark (Sturnella magna; S. neglecta, Aud.) that it at once not only
recalled that bird, but the wild, grassy, gently undulating primitive prairie
landscape where I had heard it, and with which the loud, clear, rich, mellow
tones of this beautiful songster so admirably harmonize. This bird I re-
peatedly recognized from the peculiarity of its notes during my several days’
stay at this locality. Aside from such unusual variations as this, which we
may consider as accidental, birds of unquestionably the same species, as the
Crow, the Blue Jay, the Towhee, and others, at remote localities, as New
England, Florida, Iowa, etc., often possess either general differences in
their notes and song, easily recognizable, or certain notes at one of these
localities never heard at the others, or an absence of some that are else-
where familiar. This is perhaps not a strange fact, since it is now so well
known that birds of the same species present certain well marked varia-
tions in size according to the latitude and elevation above the sea of the
locality at which they were born, and that they vary considerably, though
doubtless within a certain range, in many structural points at one and the

APPENDIX. 169

ORIOLE. — Contin.

same locality. In other words, since it is known that all the different in-
dividuals of a species are not exactly alike, as though all were cast in the
same die, as some naturalists appear to have believed.” — Allen, J. A.:
Notes on some of the Rarer Birds of Mass. (Amer. Naturalist, vol. v., December,
1869, pp. 509-510.)

“Robins, song-sparrows, and perhaps all other birds sing differently
from each other, so far as I have observed; but none differ so greatly, in
my opinion, as orioles. The four that I have been able to study care-
fully enough to reduce their song to the musical scale, though all hav-
ing the same compass, arranged the notes differently in every case.” —
Miller, O. T.: Bird-ways, pp. 119-120.

“T bethink me now of two of these orioles, with whom I have been
acquainted for several summers. I do not know them by their shares
and plumes; I recognize them by their songs. During their sojourn
here, which extends from May to October, they take up their residences
within about a quarter of a mile of one another,—the one in a public
park, the other in an orchard. And often have I heard the chief musi-
cian of the orchard, on the top-most bough of an ancient apple-tree, sing :

Rp
—
Li

o im
o—Ts

to which the chorister of the park, from the summit of a maple, would
respond, in the same key :—”

O ft f fr ry

See ee

Munger, C. A.; Four American Birds. (Putnam’s Mag., N. 8. vol. iii, June,
1869, p. 726.)

Sone of FEMALE ORIOLE.

Mr. Ingersoll remarks in “Friends Worth Knowing,”
that the female oriole has a “ pretty song, which mingles
with the brilliant tenor of the male during all the season
of love-making.” When the little ladies in feathers get
their due it will probably be admitted that the lord and
masters of no family have all the song.

170 WOOD NOTES WILD.

OrI0LE. — Contin.

Nots.— As runs one of the beautiful legends grown about the
life of Saint Francis d’Assisi, the birds — to whom he preached
the famous sermon and gave his blessing —did not forget him
in the final hour. While he lay dying, the larks, his favorites,
gathered in great numbers over his house and sang. “ When
his time was come, about evening, though these birds are
early goers to sleep, yet they came, and with an unwonted
cheerfulness, did express great joy.” Our author, with a like
love for the birds, associated them with important events in
his life. On the night of his first marriage, when the guests
had gone, and bride and bridegroom were left alone, a bird
came to the window. It would not be driven away, and finally
he put out his hand and took it in. But at no period of his
life did the birds seem to attend him so closely as when he
came to lie in the sleep too deep to be reached by their minis-
tration. Albert Baker Cheney, his younger son, wrote from
the old home in Dorset certain details which may be pardon-
ably inserted in this connection : —

“As we were at breakfast, early the morning of starting
from Franklin with the body, an oriole, the first of the season
— perhaps the very same father listened to last year and took
his notes —came and sang a long happy song in a tree close
by the house. We spoke of it often on the sad journey.
With it still in our ears, imagine our feelings when, riding
into the grove in Dorset, late in the afternoon, we were
greeted by similar strains. Though other birds were singing,
we heard the orioles above all the rest. But the strangest
part is yet to be told. The following morning, just as the
body was being lowered into the ground, an oriole dashed
into the top of a small tree, right in the midst of the people,
and sang throughout this most silent of all times the brightest
and cheeriest strains imaginable. It struck us all as very
nearly realizing the voices of which father spoke so often,
the music of the world beyond.”

APPENDIX. 171

Sicns From BIrps.

Dr. Jenner (Roy. Soc. of London. Phil. Trans., vol. cxiv.
part i. pp. 11-14) notes the “beautiful propriety in the order
in which singing-birds fill up the day with their pleasing har-
mony. The accordance between their songs, and the aspect
of Nature at the successive periods of the day at which they
sing, is so remarkable that we cannot but suppose it to be
the result of benevolent design.”

This idea, beautiful as that of Marvell in his dial of flowers,
takes us as far, perhaps, as we are warranted in going; never-
theless, men have found from time immemorial an accordance
reaching much wider, — have found a design, benevolent or
maleficent, working through the song and flight and presence
of birds at important, decisive periods of life.

See article ‘‘ Augurs” in Ency. Brit., vol. iii. p. 64 (Am. ed.).—
Brand, J.: Popular Antiquities (rev. ed., 1877), pp. 686-702. — “ Bird-
Lore.” (All the Year Round, n. 8. vol. xx., May 11, 1878, pp. 365-370.) —
Forbes, Maj. J.: Gaulama or Demon-bird. (Zn his Eleven Years in Cey-
lon, vol. i, London, 1840, pp. 353-354.)

Last Days oF THE AUTHOR.

Though biographical matter is not a part of this volume,
it seems proper, for the sake of the author’s many friends in
New England, to add in this connection a word concerning
his last days; especially since the word comes from his widow,
Mrs. Julia C. Cheney, who, by reason of her intelligence and
affection, rendered him great service during his life and work
in Massachusetts : —

“On Thursday, May 1, my dear husband was summoned
to Boston to reduce to manuscript from the phonograph some
Indian songs collected by the Boston Society of Natural His-
tory. Previous visits for the same purpose had greatly inter-
ested him in the work, and he left home anticipating a day
of pleasing labor. On Friday, the 2d, he returned, ill from

172 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Last Days or THE AUTHOR. — Contin.

a severe cold contracted in Boston. Pneumonia was subse-
quently developed, and after a few days of suffering he passed
peacefully away. During his half-conscious hours of illness
snatches of bird-song were often upon his lips. You will
find, doubtless, a sad pleasure in completing for his sake the
unfinished little book which so much interested him in his
last days. I have been assured that when the work on the
phonograph is published Mr. Cheney’s services will receive
ample acknowledgment. His often expressed wish, that the close
of life here might find him at work with unimpaired mental
vigor, has been fulfilled. An adorer of Nature, his last labor
was devoted to interpreting the songs of her children.”

Notations from the Phonograph.

The following letter from Dr. Fewkes, of the Boston Society
of Natural History, gives a full statement of Mr. Cheney’s last
service in the interpretation of Nature-music :—

“When I returned from Calais with phonographic cylinders
on which were recorded the music of the Passamaquoddies,
your father, who had never heard these Indians sing, wrote
out from the cylinders the music, and thus made it possible
for me to demonstrate that the phonograph can be profitably
employed in the study of Indian melodies. In publishing the
results of my experiments I have already referred to his help,
and as you have shown an interest in the matter I am glad to
be able to add a word or two to what I have already written.

“Some of the music of the Passamaquoddies which I obtained
is undoubtedly aboriginal, and as such is very difficult to repre-
sent by our methods of musical notation. Not being a musical
person myself, I left the writing out of the music tohim. How
well he did it others must judge; but I have every reason to
believe that, as the idea of collecting Indian music by means
of the phonograph was original with me, he was the first one,

APPENDIX. 173

NOTATIONS FROM THE PHONOGRAPH. — Contin.

under my direction, to write it out, and in this way to demon-
strate that it could be done.

“Since these preliminary experiments, I have collected a
large quantity of aboriginal music in the same way, and other
musical specialists have set it to our scales, but I shall always
recall with gratitude the help which he afforded me in my
first experimentation. He wrote out for me three songs which
were published in my ‘Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk
Lore.’ Although I am now of the opinion that the minute
variations in the aboriginal intervals and those of Aryan
music cannot be more than approximately represented in our
method of writing music, I think that the work which he did
for me was of very great importance.” — Fewkes, Dr. J. W., in
a letter to the editor dated March 21, 1891.

Variations in Bird-Song.

“The song, for example, of a thrush near London, or in any of the
home counties, has little resemblance except in specific character to that
of the same bird in Devonshire or near Exeter. The same notes, I sup-
pose, will all of them be detected ; but they are arranged for the most part
into a different tune, and are not sung in the same way. They are given
with different values, and the singing is pitched in a different key. One
great distinction between the two cases is the number of guttural notes
of which the song of a Devonshire thrush is often made up, but which
near London are heard only at the end of a bar, or even much less
frequently ; while those chief notes, which mainly constitute the song of
the other bird, and make it so impressive, are rarely pronounced by the
Devonshire thrush.” — Jesse, E.: Scenes and Occupations of Country Life

(London, 1853), p. 112.
; : See Index, Variations, etc.

Imitation.
Mr. Allen’s statement (sce Index, Allen, J. A.), that the
oriole song brought vividly to mind that of the Western
meadow lark suggests the old subject of the influence of

174 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Im1tTation. — Contin.

imitation as a factor in the variation of bird-song. The
following is a record from the author’s diary : —

“T have heard wonderful singing from a caged robin
that sang no strainin common with his species. His
voice was stronger than the wild robin’s, and his music did
not lack variety. No one would surmise that it was a
robin singing. He was picked up half-grown. I have
also heard a robin sing in fine style a well constructed,
pleasing melody that had been taught him from a musical
instrument. This bird sang none of the music of his wild
ancestry. His voice was superior. I believe the bird
singing to be very much a matter of education or
imitation ; and it is by no means certain that it has
reached perfection.”

The thought last expressed is one the author delighted
todwell upon. But a few hours before he sank into the
final stupor he sang with great spirit the new cuckoo song
(page 88); and among his last words were, “The birds

improve.”
See Index, Improvement, etc.

There is a valuable record on this point, now a century
old: —

“T educated a young robin under a very fine nightingale, which, how-
ever, began already to be out of song, and was perfectly mute in less than
a fortnight. This robin afterwards sang three parts in four nightingale;
and the rest of his song was what the bird-catchers call rubbish, or no
particular note whatsoever. I hung this robin nearer to the nightingale
than to any other bird; from which first experiment I conceived that the
scholar would imitate the master which was at the least distance from him.
From several experiments, however, which I have since tried, I find it to
be very uncertain what notes the nestling will most attend to, and often

APPENDIX. 175

ImITATION. — Contin.

their song is a mixture; as in the instance which I have before stated of
the sparrow. I must own, also, that I conceived from the experiment of
educating the robin under a nightingale, that the scholar would fix upon
the note which it first heard when taken from the nest ; I imagined, like-
wise, that if the nightingale had been fully in song, the instruction for a
fortnight would have been sufficient. I have, however, since tried the
following experiment, which convinces me so much depends upon cir-
cumstances and perhaps caprice in the scholar, that no general inference
or rule can be laid down with regard to either of these suppositions. I
educated a nestling robin under a woodlark-linnet, which was full in
song and hung very near to him for a month together; after which the
robin was removed to another house, where he could only hear a sky-
lark-linnet. The consequence was that the nestling did not sing a note
of woodlark (though I afterwards hung him again just above the wood-
lark-linnet), but adhered entirely to the song of the skylark-linnet.” —
Barrington, D.: Roy. Soc. of London. Philos, Trans. , 1773, vol. 1xiii, pp. 249-291.

For contrary opinion, namely that the song of birds is innate, see
Blackwall, J., in Philos. Mag.and Journal (London),vol. Ixvi., July, 1825.
An extract from this paper is to be found in Amer. Jour. of Science and
Arts, vol. x., Feb., 1826, pp. 390-291. — See also Flagg, W.: A Year with
the Birds, p. 28.—Nicols, A.: Snakes, Marsupials, and Birds (London,
n. d.), pp. 202-205.

For power of imitation in the bobolink, see Littell’s Living Age,
vol. xxix., 1851, p. 312.

For power of imitation in the crow, see Cabot, J. E.: Our Birds, and
their Ways. (Aélantic Mo., vol. i., December, 1857, p. 211.)

The power of imitation is certainly very commonly
developed among the song-birds. An old bird-fancier (A
Natural History of English Song-birds, London, 1779),
shows that a round dozen of choice English songsters were
known a hundred years ago as accomplished borrowers of
other birds and of man.

“ When I say that no living cantatrice can interpret this beautiful old-
fashioned song [The Last Rose of Summer] with such sweetness and genu-
ineness of expression as can the bullfinch, I am sure of stating a truth that
will not be disputed by anybody who has chanced to hear them both.”—
Austin, G. L.: Friendship of Birds. (Appleton’s Journal, nN. 8. vol. iii., p. 161.)

176 WOOD NOTES WILD.

IMITATION. — Contin.

“ [The sedge warbler] is a most remarkable species, and like the
American mocking-bird, famous for his powers of imitation. It mimics
the song or cry of the swallow, sparrow, thrush, lark, etc., so perfectly
that you can hardly tell the difference.” — Taylor, J. E.: Half-hours in the
Green Lanes (London, 1890), p. 140.

“There is a marked distinction between the call-notes of birds, which
are hereditary and invariable, and the song, which is an accomplishment,
the result of effort and practice, even in those kinds which sing when free
and wild. Most people who have reared a young thrush or blackbird
will have noticed that as soon as the wild birds begin to sing in early
spring the tame bird imitates and reproduces by degrees the same notes.
The song of our canaries, which in their own country is so poor that they
have been said not to sing at all, has been learned entirely from the gold-
finches and linnets which have shared their cages, though the vocal organs
which the canary had but did not use are so superior to those of its teach-
ers that it has now learned to outsing them both. Among birds, as well
as men, there are non-progressive races which are indifferent to ‘self-
improvement’ and never try to learn a song of their own, much less imi-
tate the voices of other birds or of men. But the desire to gain new notes
is very much more common than most people imagine, and we believe
there are at least twenty kinds which are able to reproduce even the com-
plex forms of articulate human speech.’ — The Spectator.

In passing, this writer, like our author, takes a more
hopeful view of the art-progress of the birds than the
author of the “Journal of a Naturalist ”:—

“From various little scraps of intelligence scattered through the sacred
and ancient writings, it appears certain, as it was reasonable to conclude,
that the notes now used by birds, and the voices of animals, are the same
as uttered by their earliest progenitors.” — Knapp, J. L.: Journal of a
Naturalist, p. 267.

For further particulars on the point of imitation, see Dom. Habits of
Birds, (Lib. Ent. Knowl. London, 1833, pp. 316-339.) — Nature, vol. xvii.,
1877-78, pp. 361, 380, 438. — Nor. Brit. Rev. vol. xxx., 1859, pp. 325-327.
—Yarrell, W.: Hist. of British Birds, 4th ed., vol. ii. p, 229.

Mr. W. H. Hudson gives the following description of
the imitative power of a Patagonian artist, the white-
banded mocking-bird (Mimus triurus) : —

APPENDIX. 177

IMITATION, — Contin.

“While walking through a chaiiar-wood one bright morning,
my attention was suddenly arrested by notes issuing from a
thicket close by, and to which I listened in delighted astonish-
ment, so vastly superior in melody, strength, and variety did
they seem to all other bird music.

“That it was the song of a Mimus did not occur to me, for
while the music came in a continuous stream, —until I mar-
velled that the throat of any bird could sustain so powerful and
varied a song for so long a time, — it was never once degraded
by the harsh cries, fantastical flights, and squealing buffooneries
so frequently introduced by the ‘Calandria,’ but every note
was in harmony and uttered with a rapidity and joyous aban-
don no other bird is capable of, except perhaps the skylark,
while the purity of the sounds gave to the whole performance
something of the ethereal rapturous character of the Lark’s song
when it comes to the listener from a great height in the air.

“Presently this flow of exquisite unfamiliar music ceased,
while I still remained standing amongst the trees, not daring
to move for fear of scaring away the strange vocalist.

“After a short interval of silence I had a fresh surprise.
From the very spot whence the torrent of melody had issued
burst out the shrill, confused, impetuous song of the small yel-
low and gray Patagonian Flycatcher (Stigmatura albocinerea).
It irritated me to hear this familiar and trivial song after the
other, and I began to fear that my entertainer had flown away
unobserved; but in another moment, from the same spot, came
the mellow matin-song of the Dinca Finch, and this quickly
succeeded by the silvery, bell-like, thrilling song of the ‘Chur-
tinche,’ or little scarlet Tyrant-bird. Then followed many
other familiar notes and songs, —the flute-like evening call of
the Crested Tinamou, the gay hurried twittering of the Black-
headed Goldfinch, and the leisurely-uttered delicious strains of
the Yellow Cardinal, — all repeated with miraculous fidelity.

12

178 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Im1TATION. — Contin.

“How much was my wonder and admiration increased by
the discovery that only one sweet singer had produced all these
diverse strains! The discovery was only made when he began
to repeat songs of species that never visit Patagonia. I knew
then that I was at last listening to the famed White Mocking-
bird, just returned from his winter travels, and repeating in
this southern region the notes he had acquired in sub-tropical
forests a thousand miles away. These imitations at length
ceased, after which the sweet vocalist resumed his own match-
less song once more. I ventured then to creep a little nearer,
and at length caught sight of him not fifteen yards away. I
then found that the pleasure of listening to its melody was
greatly enhanced when I could at the same time see the
bird, so carried away with rapture does he seem while singing,
so many and so beautiful are the gestures and motions with
which his notes are accompanied. When I first heard this
bird sing I felt convinced that no other feathered songster on
the globe could compare with it, for besides the faculty of
reproducing the songs of other species, which it possesses in
common with the Virginian Mocking-bird, it has a song of its
own, which I believe matchless: in this belief I was con-
firmed when, shortly after hearing it, I visited England, and
found of how much less account than this Patagonian bird,
which no poet has ever praised, were the sweetest of the famed
melodists of the old world.”

Room must be made for another of this wonderful fam-

ily, one that on occasion disdains all mimicry and sings
a glorious song all his own (Mimus polyglottus, Bote).

“It is remarkable that in those serenades and midnight solos which
have obtained for the Mocking-bird the name of Nightingale, and which
he commences with a rapid, stammering prelude, as if he had awaked,
frightened out of sleep, he never sings his song of mimicry ; his music at
this time is his own. It is full of variety, with a fine compass, but less

APPENDIX. 179

IMITATION. — Contin.

mingled and more equable than by day, as if the minstrel felt that the
sober-seeming of the night required a solemnity of music peculiarly its
own. The night-song of the Mocking-bird, though in many of its modula
tions it reminds us of that of the Nightingale of Europe, has less of
volume in it. There is not more variety, but a less frequent repetition of
those certain notes of ecstasy, which give such a peculiar character, and
such wild, intense, and all-absorbing feeling to the midnight song of the
European bird. Though the more regulated quality of the song of our
nightingale is less calculated to create surprise, it is more fitted to soothe
and console; and that sensation of melancholy which is said to pervade
the melody of the European minstrel is substituted in the midnight sing-

ing of our bird by one of thoughtful and tranquil delight.” — Hill, R.: in
Gosse, P. H., Birds of Jamaica, p. 146.

Note. — Though this bird is given as Mimus polyglottus, it is probably
Mimus Orpheus.

The Nightingale and his Rivals.

In the famous old table quoted on next page, the nightin-
gale, as usual, stands first ; but as time goes on the prestige
of the Sappho-Jonson “dear glad angel of the spring”
seems to lessen. The claims of several rivals are pre-
sented; and though in deference to the poets and to long-
established opinion, the manner of presentation is as yet
noticeably deferential, it is plain and sincere. The natu-
ral, tender-hearted bird-fancier before quoted (See Index,
Nat. Hist. of Eng. Song-birds) speaking of the woodlark
says: “He is not only, as some have said, comparable to
the nightingale for singing, but in my judgment, deserving
to be preferred before that excellent bird.” Elsewhere he
draws a more detailed comparison between these songsters :

“Notwithstanding the particular fancy of divers persons for this or
that bird, which they esteem and prefer to all others, the nightingale, by
the generality of mankind, is still accounted the chief of all singing-birds ;
he sends forth his pleasant notes with so lavish a freedom, that he makes

180 WOOD NOTES WILD.

NIGHTINGALE AND HIS Rrvats.— Contin.

BarrinetTon’s TABLE oF CoMPARATIVE Merit oF BrRitTisH
Sinemne-Birps.

(The point of perfection is 20.)

TS PRE RARE come] as
Nightingale. . . . . 19 14 19 19 19
Skylark ...... 4 19 4 18 18
Woodlark ..... 18 4 17 12 8
Titlark . ..... 12 12 12 12 12
Linnett ...... 12 16 12 16 18
Goldfinch . .... 4 19 4 12 12
Chaffinch. . 4 12 4 8 8
Greenfinch . . . . 4 4 4 4 6
Hedge-spatrow. . . . 6 0 6 4 4
Aberdevine or Siskin. 2 4 0 4 4
Redpole. .... - 0 4 0 4 4
Thrush . .... 4 4 4 4 4
Blackbird .... . 4 4 0 2 2
Robin. . . . - 6 16 12 12 12
Wren. «1. + © ss 0 12 0 4 4
Reeds#parrow . . . 0 4 0 2 2
nee | ae ee |e | a

APPENDIX. 181

NIGHTINGALE AND H18 Rivas. — Contin.

even the woods to echo with his melodious voice; and this delightful bird,
scorning to be out-done, will not yield to any competitor, either of birds or
men. The Woodlark is his greatest antagonist, between whom there
sometimes happens such a contention for mastery, each striving to outvie
the other, that, like true-bred cocks, they seem resolved to die rather than
lose the victory. If the former carries it in stoutness and freeness of
song, so does the latter in his pleasing variety of soft, warbling, har-
monious notes, in which, to my fancy, none excels or is equal to him.” —
Nat. Hist. Eng. Song-birds. London, 1779.

For an account of the singing of a mocking-bird rival kept by Dr.
Golz of Berlin, see Nehrling, H.: North Amer. Birds, part i., p. 45.

Nors. — Darwin himself must acknowledge the faculty of song in this
talented family : —

“A mocking-bird (Ifimus Orpheus), called by the inhabitants Calandria,
is remarkable from possessing a song far superior to that of any other
bird in the country ; indeed, it is nearly the only bird in South America
which I have observed to take its stand for the purpose of singing. The
song may be compared to that of the sedge warbler, but is more powerful,
some harsh notes and some very high ones being mingled with a pleasant
warbling. It is heard only during the spring. At other times its cry is
harsh and far from harmonious.” — Darwin, C.: Journal of Researches,
etc., p. 54.

Mr. Minot says :—

“T estimated that the nightingale had a most wonderful compass, and
was the greatest of all bird vocalists, but with a less individual and
exquisite genius than our wood thrush.” — Minot, H. D.: Eng. birds com-
pared with American. (Am. Nat., vol. xiv., 1880, p. 563.)

On the slopes of Olympus the song of the blue thrush
is often mistaken for that of the nightingale. — Birds of
the Levant. (Lclectie Mag., n. 8. vol. vii., 1868, pp. 114-119.)

And was not the song thrush the rightful recipient of
Cowper’s homage in his ode to the nightingale ?

See Index, Organist.

1 A French observer, whose name cannot now be recalled, finds that
the nightingale’s compass is rarely more than an octave.

182 WOOD NOTES WILD.

NIGHTINGALE AND HIs Rivats. — Contin.

For choice passages on the song of the nightingale see F. A. Knight’s
delightful little volume, “Idylls of the Field,” pp. 93-94.

See also Hamerton, P. G.: Chapters on Animals, chap. 13.— Dom.
Habits of Birds. (Lib. Enter. Knowl., pp. 284-289.) — Lescuyer, F. ;
Langage et Chant des Oiseaux (Paris, 1878), pp. 67-71. — Litt. Liv. Age,
vol. xxv., 1850, pp. 273-278; vol. xlii., 1854, pp. 612-614. — Plinius Se-
cundus, C.: Natural History, bk. x. chap. xliii.— Die Vogelsprache.
( Gartenlaube, 1866, pp. 705-707.)

“But the nightingale, another of my airy creatures, breathes such
sweet, loud music out of her little instrumental throat that it might make
mankind to think that miracles are not ceased. He that at midnight,
when the very laborer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have often, the
clear airs, the sweet descants, the natural rising and falling, the doubling
and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth, and say,
Lord, what music hast thou provided for the saints in Heaven, when thou

affordest bad men such music on earth!” — Walton, I.: The Complete
Angler (London, 1875), p. cxiv.

See also Aristophanes: The Birds. (In his Comedies, vol. i. pp.
301-386.)

Imported Songsters.

Thanks to the enterprise of the West, we need no longer
go to the books sent us from beyond the sea to hear the
old-world songsters, the birds immortalized by Keats and
Shelley, the birds sung and descanted upon by hundreds
of others less famous. Mr. C. F. Pfluger, Secretary of the
Society for the Introduction of Useful Singing-birds into
Oregon, writes under date of Dec. 22, 1890, as follows:

“In the month of May, 1889, the society imported from
Clausthal, in Germany, under a contract with a German bird-
dealer, the following birds in pairs of males and females, viz. :
Ten pairs of black-headed nightingales, eight pairs of gray
song thrushes, fifteen pairs of black song thrushes, twenty-two
pairs of skylarks, four pairs of singing quail, twenty pairs of
black starlings, nineteen bullfinches, three of which were females
and sixteen males; the rest of the females had died on the way ;

APPENDIX. 183

Importep SonGstTers. — Contin.

forty pairs of goldfinches, forty pairs of chaffinches, thirty-five
pairs of linnets, forty pairs of ziskins (green finches), twenty
pairs of cross-beaks, one pair of real nightingales (the rest had
died on the way), and several pairs of red-breasted English
robins, the European wren species, forest finches, yellow-ham-
mers, green finches,

‘When these birds arrived here, each species was put into a
large wooden cage six feet high, six feet long, and four feet deep,
with wire-net front, with plenty of water and their favorite food,
thus giving them a good opportunity to rest and exercise their
wings before they were turned loose. All these birds, with
their cages, were placed on exhibition for four days to the pub-
lic. Thousands of people went to see them, and the society
realized about five hundred dollars by this show, which went
toward paying for the expense of bringing them here. At
the close of the exhibition the birds were turned loose under
direction of Frank Dekum, president of the society, in the
suburbs of Portland and in other counties here.

“The larks were let loose outside of the city near clover
meadows.

“The birds have done well ever since they were let loose;
we watched them all through the summer of 1889. Some
nested in Portland and some in the suburbs, while others went
far off into the State.

“We have had very flattering reports of these birds from all
parts of the State.

“The birds left here in the fall of 1889 and returned in the
spring of 1890, except the black thrush and the skylark; they
did not migrate.

“The society has received reports from numerous places in
this vicinity which show that the birds brought here and turned
loose a year ago last spring, have prospered, and that the scheme
has been a grand success.

184 WOOD NOTES WILD.

ImporTED SonGstTers. — Contin.

“These and other reports received by me prove that the
birds are doing well, and the society is so well pleased with
the success of its scheme that another subscription was started
here about six weeks ago for the purpose of bringing some
more of the insectivorous birds here. It is also the intention
to import a number of mocking-birds from the South. The
birds will arrive here about the first of March, 1891. By the
introduction of such birds the orchards are protected against
insects and caterpillars.

“The following is the list of useful European and South:
American singing-birds which the society has ordered by Mr.
Stuhr, the Portland bird-dealer, to be delivered here in Port-
land, Oregon, in good order and condition, not later than
March 1, 1891: twenty-four pairs of skylarks at $4 per pair,
twenty-four pairs of American mocking-birds at $5.50 per pair,
twenty-four pairs of bullfinches at $4 per pair, twelve pairs of
black song thrushes at $7.50 per pair, twelve pairs of gray
song thrushes at $8.50 per pair, eighteen pairs of red-breasted
English robins at $5.50 per pair, twenty-four pairs of black-
headed nightingales at $5.50 per pair. Some special orders
for different parties were of goldfinches at $2.50 per pair, black
starlings at $5.50 per pair, chaffinches at $2.50 per pair, linnets
at $3.50 per pair, ziskins (green finches) $2.50 per pair.

“The aforesaid birds have to be delivered here in first-class
order and healthy condition by Mr. Stuhr, the bird-dealer, and
upon such delivery he will be paid for the same at the afore-
said prices.

“ Our first importation of birds, in 1889, has cost the society
very nearly $1,500 for two hundred and seventy-five pairs, but
our importation for 1891 will be considerably cheaper, owing
to the fact that we have aroused the competition of the dealers.”

An account of the origin of this most commendable movement is to be
found in the West Shore (Portland, Oregon) for March, 1889.

APPENDIX. 185

Scarlet Tanager. (See p. 74.)

“Their more common notes are simple and brief, resembling, accord-
ing to Wilson, the sound chip-charr. Mr. Ridgway represents them by
chip-a-ra’-ree. This song it repeats at brief intervals and in a pensive
tone, and with a singular faculty of causing it to seem to come from a
greater than the real distance. Besides this it also has a more varied and.
musical chant, resembling the mellow notes of the Baltimore oriole. The,
female also utters similar notes when her nest is approached ; and in their
mating-season, as they move together through the branches, they both
utter a low whispering warble in a tone of great sweetness and tender-
ness. Asa whole, this bird may be regarded as a musical performer of
very respectable merits.” — Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway: North American
Birds, Land-Birds, vol. i. p. 486.

Mr. Nelson and Mr. Samuels find not a little of the
robin’s song in that of the tanager; while Mr. A. P.
Coleman, of Victoria University, Coburg, Ontario, reports

him as singing at the Thousand Islands early in the
summer of 1886 as follows: —

a 3

rey @ © @
j a mt * ry | DEPEVEY I 8 i T _—F¥ fq
2 + a 2 J Y ee __ = Se
L Oman i t = Ss as 1 oe 1 __\ ¢- it 1
io if is a im a: C it}

@ @ @ @

| om” 2-92 r it

“During the three weeks that we heard him,” says Mr. Coleman, “he
made no other variation, except that he occasionally repeated the last two
notes a third time, thus filling out the bar. The notes were taken down
by a trained musician, and if whistled give the tanager’s song exactly.” —
Coleman, A. P.: Music in Nature. (Nature, vol. xxxvi., 1887, p. 605.)

See also Lunt, H.: Across Lots, p. 89.

Bright Plumage vs. Song.

It would seem that bright plumage is not proof against
bright song. It may be with the birds as it is with the

186 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Bricgut PLuMaGE vs. Sona. — Contin.

flowers: while the odorous blossoms are the pale off-
spring of the North, the fragrant leaves and aromatic
wood are found in the tropics. Henry Berthoud tells
of a Bird of Paradise that he heard sing “ Partant pour
la Syrie.”

For an account of a brilliantly colored little bird, called in St. Domingo
the organist (Pipra musica, Gmel.), “ because it sounds all the notes of the

octave, rising from the bass to the treble,” see Buffon’s Natural Hist.
(Trans. by Wm. Smellie, London, 1812), vol. xvi. pp. 346-347.

Buffon believes this to be the same bird described under
the name “bishop” in Dupratz’s Hist. of Louisiana : —

“Its notes are so flexible, its warble so tender, that when we
once hear it, we become more reserved in our eulogiums on
the nightingale. Its song lasts during a Miserere, and during
the whole time it never makes an inspiration; it rests twice
as long before it renews its music, the whole interval elapsed
being about two hours.”

Organ-Bird.

The trustworthy observer, Mr. Bates, writes of a songster
of the Amazonian forest, called also the organ-bird, or
realejho (Cyphorhinus cantans) : —

“When its singular notes strike the ear for the first time the impres-
sion cannot be resisted that they are produced by a human voice. Some
musical boy must be gathering fruits in the thickets, and is singing a few
notes just to cheer himself. The tones become more fluty and plaintive, —~
they are now those of a flageolet; and notwithstanding the utter impos-
sibility of the thing, one is for the moment convinced that some one is
playing that instrument. .... It is the only songster which makes an
impression on the natives, who sometimes rest their paddles whilst travel-

APPENDIX. 187

OrGAN-Birp. — Contin.

ling in their small canoes along the shady by-paths, as if struck by the
mysterious sound.” — Hudson, W. H.: South American Bird-music, (Nature,
vol, xxxiii, pp. 199-201.)

Solitaire. (JMusicapa armillata, Viellot.)

' Mr. Hill thought Buffon’s “organist” the same as the
solitaire. Gosse corrects him on page 202, “Birds of
Jamaica.” This error admitted, the naturalist of Spanish
Town has put us greatly in his debt by a description of a
master singer in Hayti: —

“ As soon as the first indications of daylight are perceived, even while
the mists hang over the forests, these minstrels are heard pouring forth
their wild notes in a concert of many voices, sweet and lengthened like
those of the harmonica or musical glasses. It is the sweetest, the most
solemn and most unearthly of all the woodland singing I have ever heard.
The lofty locality, the cloud-capped heights, to which alone the eagle soars
in other countries, — so different from ordinary singing-birds in gardens
and cultivated fields, — combine with the solemnity of the music to excite
something like devotional associations. The notes are uttered slowly and
distinctly, with a strangely-measured exactness. Though it is seldom
that the bird is seen, it can scarcely be said to be solitary, since it rarely
sings alone, but in harmony or concert with some half-dozen others
chanting in the same glen. Occasionally it strikes out into such an
adventitious combination of notes as to form a perfect tune. The time
of enunciating a single note is that of the semibreve. The quaver is
executed with the most perfect trill. It regards the major and minor
cadences, and observes the harmony of counterpoint, with all the pre-
ciseness of a perfect musician. Its melodies, from the length and dis-
tinctness of each note, are more hymns than songs. Though the concert
of singers will keep to the same melody for an hour, each little coterie
of birds chants a different song, and the traveller by no accident ever
hears the same tune.’ — Hill, R.: in Gosse, P. H., Birds of Jamaica, pp.
201-202.

See Index, Johnston, A. G.

188 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Rose-breasted Grosbeak. (See p. 76.)

“Jt is a very fine songster, and is hardly excelled by any of our other
species, —its notes being uttered, not only through the day, but also
during the night, as I have heard on several occasions. The song is
difficult of description; it is a sweet warble, with various emphatic
passages, and sometimes a plaintive strain, exceedingly tender and
affecting.” — Samuels, E. A,: Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p. 330.

“He is not always silent during the day, when feeding, but it is at
evening in May or June that he sings most loudly and sweetly. Then,
perching near the top of some low tree, he pours out an extremely
mellow warble, like that of the Robin, but very much finer. Sometimes
in the love-season he sings at night, and with an ardor which adds to
the beauty of his song.” — Minot, H. D: Land-birds and Game-birds of
N. E, p. 234.

“Tt thrives very well in a cage, is a most melodious and indefatigable
warbler, frequently in fine weather, as in its state of freedom, passing a
great part of the night in singing, with all the varied and touching tones
of the nightingale. While thus earnestly engaged, it seems to mount
on tiptoe in an ecstasy of enthusiasm and delight at the unrivalled
harmony of its own voice. The notes are wholly warbled, now loud,
clear, and vaulting with a querulous air, then perhaps sprightly, and
finally lower, tender, and pathetic. In short, I am not acquainted with
any of our birds superior in song to the present, with the solitary excep-
tion of our Orphean Mocking-bird.” — Nuttall, T.: Manual of Ornithology,
p. 623,

See also Lunt, H.: Across Lots, p. 109.

Mr. Burroughs thinks that this performer has “fine talents, but not
genius” (in his Wake-robin, pp. 67-68).

The Author’s Power of Memory. (See p. 76).

The author’s tenacious memory of both sound and sight
is illustrated by the following notation of an old melody
and by an extract from a letter dated January, 1888.

“Learned this at sixteen as John Foss whistled it in
smooth full tones when we were making horseshoes,
evenings. This was while the irons were heating.

APPENDIX. 189

Tur AvutTHor’s PowEr or Memory. — Contin,

Dec. 15, 1889.

“TI have had three wonderful horses, all small, — Old
Pink, Old Dresser Mare, and Lightfoot. I have written
them up. Have a photograph of Dresser and Lightfoot ;
and can from memory dictate a good picture of old Pink.
Dear me! I have omitted ‘Flying Jennie,’ the ‘ most grand-
est’ of all, of whom you know little. I have her also pho-
tographed in my eye, and shall have while I dwell ‘here
below.’ These four animals were not surpassed for rare
qualities by any that I have known of. Each was a won-
der. Old Dresser was fifteen years old before she was
harnessed. You remember her at forty. Think of that!”

Red-eyed Vireo. (See p. 78.)

“Their song consists of a few notes, which are warbled again and
again with little intermission or variety (and which are sometimes inter-
rupted now and then py a low whistle). This music would be monoto-
nous were it not for its wonderful cheerfulness, energy, and animation, in
these qualities resembling the Robin’s song. The ‘Red-eyes’ have also a
chip, a chatter like a miniature of the Oriole’s scold (and to be heard in
the séason of courtship), and a peculiarly characteristic querulous note,
which, like others, cannot be described accurately; whence the advantage

190 WOOD NOTES WILD.

RED-EYED VIREO. — Contin.

of studying birds through Nature, and not through books.— Minot, H. D.:
Land-birds and Game-birds of N. E., p. 157.

“It is a most persistent and tireless songster, whose earnest melody
enlivens the sultry noon and the drowsy, listless after-hours of mid-
summer days, which prove too much for the spirit of unwilling school-
boys, but seem to have no depressing effect upon this indefatigable
musician.” — Stearns, W. A.: N. E. Bird-life, p. 196.

“ Everywhere in these States, at all hours of the day, from early dawn
until evening twilight, his sweet, half-plaintive, half-meditative carol is
heard. I know that I am not singular in my preference when I say
that of all my feathered acquaintances, this is the greatest favorite I
have.” — Samuels, E. A.: Our Northern and Eastern Birds, p, 271.

“In moist and dark summer weather, his voice seems to be one con-
tinued, untiring warble of exquisite sweetness; and in the most populous
and noisy streets of Boston, his shrill and tender lay is commonly heard
from the tall elms.” — Nuttall, T.: Manual of Ornithology, p. 354.

See also Lunt, H.: Across Lots, p. 116.

Energy expended in Bird-Song.

The energy expended in the day-long singing of the
vireo is a source of continuous wonderment. The Rev.
J. G. Wood, a man well fitted to speak of indefatigable
effort, has a passage on that prodigy of song, the English
lark : —

“The lark ascends until it looks no larger than a midge, and can with
difficulty be seen by the unaided eye, and yet every note will be clearly
audible to persons who are fully half a mile from the nest over which the
bird utters its song. Moreover, it never ceases to sing for a moment, a
feat which seems wonderful to us human beings, who find that a song of
six or seven minutes in length, though interspersed with rests and pauses,
is more than trying. Even a practised public speaker, though he can
pause at the end of each sentence, finds the applause of the audience a
very welcome relief. Moreover, the singer and speaker need to use no
exertion save exercising their voices. Yet the bird will pour out a continu-
ous song of nearly twenty minutes in length, and all the time has to support
itself in the air by the constant use of its wings.” — Wood, Rev. J. G.

APPENDIX. 191

Yellow-breasted Chat.

“As soon as our bird has chosen his retreat, which is commonly in
some thorny or viny thicket, where he can obtain concealment, he be-
comes jealous of his assumed rights, and resents the least intrusion,
scolding all who approach in a variety of odd and uncouth tones, very
difficult to describe or imitate, except by a whistling, in which case the
bird may be made to approach, but seldom within sight. His responses
on such occasions are constant and rapid, expressive of anger and anxiety ;
and still unseen, his voice shifts from place to place amidst the thicket,
like the haunting of a fairy. Some of these notes resemble the whistling
of the wings of a flying duck, at first loud and rapid, then sinking till they
seem to end in single notes. A succession of other tones are now heard,
some like the barking of young puppies, with a variety of hollow, guttural,
uncommon sounds, frequently repeated, and terminated occasionally by
something like the mewing of a cat, but hoarser, — a tone to which all our
vireos, particularly the young, have frequent recurrence. All these notes
are uttered with vehemence, and with such strange and various modula-
tions as to appear near or distant, like the mancuvres of ventriloquism.1
In mild weather also, when the moon shines, this gabbling, with exuber-
ance of life and emotion, is heard nearly throughout the night, as if the
performer were disputing with the echoes of his own voice.” — Nuttall, T.:
Manual of Ornithology, p. 340.

Bobolink. (See p. 82.)

“Have tried on the bobolink. Found him, as I antici-
pated, impossible to copy fully, but I can make out his
pitch,? and some of his notes. One must be very quick
to decide on the intervals in a bird-song; I have much
improved in it, and I was tolerably apt when I took ’em

1 See Index, Ventriloquism.

2 Mr. Cheney took the pitch with a little reed instrument made for

the purpose. It is about five inches long and two inches wide. The
tones are, —

re
Te

192 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Boso.ink. — Contin.

up. But bobolink is too much for me. He is a stent.
My grandfather used to say he sang, —

“Queer, queer, ker chube
Ker dingle-dongle swingle
Serangle kalamy kalamy
Whoa boys, whoa boys
Wicklemerlick wicklemerlick steeple
Steeple stoot steere
Queer queer temp, temp!’”

C., S. P. in a letter dated October, 1886.

Ingenious as Grandsire Cheney was, he has been outdone
by, or at least in the name of, some colored brother of a
later generation : —

“ Liberty, liberty,
Berry nice to be free |
Bob-o-link where he please,
Fly in de apple-trees ;
Oh ’tis de freedom note
Guggle sweet in him troat.
Jink-a-link, jink-a-jink,
Winky wink, winky wink,
Only tink, only tink,
How happy, Bob-o-link !
Sweet! Sweet!”

Lost Hunter, pub. by Derby and Jackson, 1855 2

This tour de force in onomatopoeia goes far toward
redeeming the many failures with which one instantly
contrasts it. We may doubt that the song thrush (7urdus
musicus) carols, “My dear, my pretty dear, my pretty little
dear ;” we can hardly credit the Moslem that the curlew
sings over and over “ Lak, lak, lak! la Kharya Kalak fih

APPENDIX. 193

Boso.inx. — Contin.

il mulk” (God alone is king, etc.); we may absolutely
refuse to listen to Bechstein’s dreadful zozozos and
tsissisis and kigaigais saddled on the prima donna of all
the choirs of air,— but this simple “Liberty, liberty”
song, together with certain happy syllables of Emerson
and avery few others, may well be allowed to stand.

“Mounting and hovering on wing at a small height above the field, he
chants out such a jingling medley of short, variable notes, uttered with
such seeming confusion and rapidity, and continued for « considerable
time, that it appears as if half a dozen birds of different kinds were all
singing together. Some idea may be formed of this song by striking the
high keys of a pianoforte at random singly and quickly, making as many
sudden contrasts of high and low notes as possible. Many of the tones
are in themselves charming; but they succeed each other so rapidly that
the ear can hardly separate them. Nevertheless, the general effect is
good; and when ten or twelve are all singing on the same tree, the
concert! is singularly pleasing.” — Wilson, A.: Amer. Ornithology, vol. ii.
(Phil. 1810), p. 50

“ [The sky-lark’s song is] not very musical, not so rich as our bobolink’s
roundelay.” — Minot, H. D. : in Am. Nat., vol. xiv., 1880, p. 563.

(Macgillivray says, “The song of the lark is certainly not musical.”)

For a bobolink in the réle of a canary, see Litt. Liv. Age, vol. xxix.,
1851, p. 312.

1 “The bobolinks are very numerous around my home in Caledonia
County, Vt., and I once heard there what seemed to me a very remarkable
bobolink concert. There are two butternut-trees growing in the corner
of our garden, and my attention was attracted one day by an unusual
chattering from that quarter. Upon going near, I saw that the trees
were filled with bobolinks, every one of which was singing as loud as
he could sing. After a short time, one of their number flew away, and
to my surprise, every bird stopped singing. Soon they all began again,
not together, but one at a time. The first to begin sang the liquid
opening notes alone, and just as he started in with the rollicking song
that follows, a second struck in with the same sweet first notes, then
a third struck in at the same point in Ais song; and so it went on, until
they were all singing again, and under all the rollicking chatter vibrated
the tender undertone of the liquid notes that begin their song. I watched

13

194 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo. (See p. 89.)

“The notes of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo do not differ distinctly from
those of the Black-billed species, though often harsher.

“The notes of the Cuckoo are all unmusical, and more or less uncouth and
guttural. They are much varied, being sometimes cow-cow-cow-cow-cow,
cow-cow, sometimes cuckoo/-cuckoo!-cuckoo!, sometimes cuckucow!, cuckucow',
and at other times low. Many of them are very liquid, but I have heard
one cry which has an affinity to that of certain Woodpeckers. The Cuckoo
may sometimes be heard at night.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-
bh 1s of N. E., pp. 309-310.

Cuckoo. (See p. 87.)

Mr. Mitford is quoted as saying of the English cuckoo that it begins to
sing “early in the season with the interval of a minor third; the bird then
proceeds to a major third, next to a fourth, then to a fifth, after which
his voice breaks without attaining a minor sixth.” — Domestic Habits of
Birds. (Lib. Enter. Knowl., p. 305.)

The writer then goes on to say that the “usual note of
the cuckoo is the minor third, sung downwards, thus:”

and listened as long as the concert lasted, and whenever one of the per-
formers flew away, which occurred several times, they were all silent
for the space of perhaps half a minute, when they would start in again.
Plainly they had a method, and probably a leader. I am quite sure that
no two started in together, as even after so many were singing that I
could not trace each voice as it began, the number of voices steadily
increased till the whole choir was singing again. I cannot give the date,
but it may have been as early as 1882, and must have been in June, as
that is the bobolinks’ merriest month. Although I had never missed a
June among the bobolinks, this was the first time I had heard a bobolink
concert. I heard a like performance a few, perhaps three, times after-
wards, but never so many performers; nor did I ever again hear them
sing so long a time, I think I never heard them sing in this way twice
in the same year, and never anywhere but in those same butternut-trees.
No one to whom I have mentioned this performance has heard anything of
the kind.” — Hayward, Miss C. A., in a note to the Editor dated August, 1891.

APPENDIX. 195

Cuckoo. — Contin.

Father Kircher gives it (Musurgia, bk. i p. 30) as
follows : —

ray

T t + f
i I t

Gu - cu, gu - cu, gu - cu

Gardiner puts it in the major : —

poe => >

I t— L ———o

See Index, Cuckoo.

For intervals of English cuckoo song see Nature, vol. xxii., 1880, pp.
76, 97, 122; vol. xxxvi., 1887, p. 344.
For manner in delivery see Knight, F. A.: By Leafy Ways, p. 18.

Bell-Bird.

The cuckoo has a delightful rival in distinctness of
utterance, one of the gayly-colored cotingas inhabiting the
mountains of Demerara : —

“The fifth species is the celebrated Campanero of the Spaniards, called
Dara by the Indians, and Bell-bird by the English. He is about the size
of the jay. His plumage is white as snow. On his forehead rises a spiral
tube nearly three inches long. It is jet black, dotted all over with small
white feathers. It has a communication with the palate, and when filled
with air, looks like a spire; when empty it becomes pendulous. His note
is loud and clear, like the sound of a bell, and may be heard at the dis-
tance of three miles. In the midst of these extensive wilds, generally on
the dried top of an aged mora, almost out of gun reach, you will see the
campanero. No sound or song from any of the winged inhabitants of
the forest, not even the clearly pronounced ‘ Whip-poor-Will’ from the goat-
sucker, causes such astonishment as the toll of the campanero. With
many of the feathered race, he pays the common tribute of a morning and
an evening song; and even when the meridian sun has shut in silence the
mouths of almost the whole of animated Nature, the campanero still cheers
the forest. You hear his toll, and then a pause for a minute, then another

196 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Betu-Birp. — Contin.

toll, and then a pause again, and then a toll, and again a pause. Then he
is silent for six or eight minutes, and then another toll, and so on.

“ Acteon would stop in mid chase, Maria would defér her evening song,
and Orpheus himself would drop his lute to listen to him, so sweet, so novel
and romantic is the toll of the pretty snow-white campanero. He is never
seen to feed with the other cotingas, nor is it known in what part of Guiana
he makes his nest.” — Waterton, C.:; Wanderings in South America (London,
1879), p. 180-181.

See also Funk, N: Glockengeliute im Walde. (Gartenlaube, 1875, pp.
527-530.) — Gosse, P. H: Romance of Nat. Hist. pp. 21-22.

Ruffed Grouse. (See p. 92.) "

“ Audubon supports me on the night-hawk booming ;
but says the partridge drums on his breast. I am alone
on this point.” — C., S. P., in a letter dated February, 1888.

It is not strange that our author believed himself alone
on this point. A fact it is that the great names, with
hardly an exception, are ranged against him. Darwin
quotes only the old orthodox “ body ” and “log ” reporters.
Dr. Coues, however, comes to a contrary conclusion.

“ Early in spring, the male begins ‘drumming’; this habit is peculiar to
this species, and is probably familiar to all persons who have passed much
of their time in the woods.

“J have heard this drumming as early as February, and as late as
September; but usually it is not heard much before the first of April.
The bird resorts to a fallen trunk of a tree or log, and while strutting
like the male turkey, beats his wings against his sides and the log with
considerable force.

“This produces a hollow drumming noise that may be heard to a con-
siderable distance; it commences very slowly, and after a few strokes,
gradually increases in velocity, and terminates with a rolling beat very
similar to the roll of a drum.

“T know not by what law of acoustics, but this drumming is peculiar in
sounding equally as loud at a considerable distance off as within a few

APPENDIX. 197

Rurrep Grouse. — Contin,

\

rods. I have searched for the bird when I have heard the drumming,
and while supposing him to be at a considerable distance, have flushed him.

within the distance of fifty feet, and vice versa.” — Samuels, E. A.; Our
Northern and Eastern Birds, pp. 386-387.

“Tn the spring and early summer may be heard that remarkable sound
called ‘drumming.’ Whoever is fortunate enough to approach closely an
old cock in the act of drumming, will be well rewarded for the trouble that
he may have taken in so doing. Generally on a log or broad stump or ina
cleared spot, the bird will be seen, puffed like a turkey to twice his
natural size, with his crest erect, his ruffs extended, and his tail spread,
strutting about, lowering or twisting his neck and head, and then suddenly
beating violently with his wings his inflated body. This causes a sound
which on a favorable day may be heard for a mile or two, and which is
often repeated at intervals for some time. One can appreciate the
muscular vitality of the wings and the rapidity of their motion, by
endeavoring to imitate the sound on a cushion (or other surface) with the
hand. It will be found impossible to equal or even to approach the rapidity
of the repeated strokes.” — Minot, H. D.: Land-birds and Game-birds of
N.E., p. 390.

“ Most writers follow Audubon and Nuttall in saying that the drumming
is produced by striking the wings against the body; but from the accounts
given me by reliable sportsmen, there is no doubt that the above high
authorities are in error. Wilson does not say that the wings are struck
against the body, though it is somewhat uncertain whether he meant to
say so or not, since the rest of his description is substantially that of
Audubon and Nuttall.

“My esteemed friend, Mr. H. W. Henshaw, of Cambridge, Mass., has
furnished me with what I believe to be a reliable account of the manner
in which the drumming is produced. His authorities are his father and
Mr. William Brewster, of Cambridge, — the latter an accomplished sports-
man, whose statements I can vouch for myself. Mr. Henshaw describes
the drumming process as follows : —

“¢ The bird sits crosswise upon the log, resting upon the back of the tarsi
(not standing erect as described by some writers), its tail projecting nearly
horizontally behind (not erected) and spread ; the head is drawn back, the
feathers pressed close to the body. The wings are then raised and stiff-
ened,and drumming commences by a slow, hard stroke with both wings,
downward and forward; but they are stopped before they touch the body.
The rapidity of this motion is increased after the first few beats, when the
wings move so fast that only a semi-circular haze over the bird is visible ;

198 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Rourrep Grouss. — Contin.

this rapid vibration causing the rolling noise with which the sound termi-
nates. The movements of the wings, and the rumbling thereby produced,
are entirely analogous to those produced by the humming-bird, when
hovering over a flower. This I believe to be the true description of the
manner of drumming, and I am happy to add that my father, who has
often crawled up to within twenty feet of the bird at such times, corrobo-
rates it in every particular. There are, doubtless, among those who read
the ‘Sportsman,’ many who have had opportunities to watch the operations
of the ruffed grouse when engaged in drumming, and the experience of
each one would be a very acceptable contribution to our knowledge of the
habits of this very interesting species.

“©The fact that the drumming of the ruffed grouse is heard as often in
autumn as in spring has raised the question of why this sound is produced.
In regard to this, Nuttall is probably correct in saying that it is often ‘an
instinctive expression of hilarity and vigor,’ as well as the call-note of the
male during the breeding season.’

“ To this article Mr. J. H. Batty replies in the following terms : —

“Tn No. 21 of the ‘Sportsman’ I find an article of my friend, Mr. Ridg-
way, ‘Why and how does the ruffed grouse drum?’ I solved the
mystery, to my own satisfaction, some five years ago, when living at
Springfield, Mass. The peculiar noise made by the ruffed grouse is
caused by the backs or exterior sides of the wings striking each other as
they are forcibly raised over the back of the bird. Ihave seen the grouse
drum, within a few yards of me, a number of times. On one occasion I
was sitting on a log in the woods, by a stone wall, eating my lunch.
While thus engaged, a ruffed grouse mounted the wall, about fifty yards
from my position, and commenced walking on it directly toward me. I
immediately lay down behind the log on which I had been sitting, and
awaited the approach of the bird. When it had reached a point opposite
me it mounted a large elevated stone on the’ top of the wall and com-
menced drumming, after a series of struttings backward and forward on
the wall, as described by Audubon, Wilson, and others. When the bird
was drumming, its back was toward me, and I had an unobstructed view
of it against the sky. The grouse first struck its wings together slowly:
and strongly, then gradually increased these strokes until the single strokes
could not be detected. During the more rapid beating of the wings the
‘semi-circular haze’ caused by the wings was observable, as stated by Mr.
Henshaw. The wings of the grouse were stiffened, and the strokes given
from the shoulder (if I may so speak); and the wings did not appear to
touch the bird’s sides. ,

APPENDIX. 199

Rurrep Grouse. — Contin.

“© This occurred in October. Later in the season, when going the round
of my mink and musk-rat traps, I found a male ruffed grouse caught in
one of them by the leg. The bird had evidently been caught but a short
time before my arrival; and as the trap which held it was a small and
weak one, and the jaws were filled with leaves, the bird’s leg had not been
broken. I carried the grouse home and put it in a large feed-box which
was standing in the open air under the shade of an apple-tree. When re-
turning from a hunting excursion, one day, one of my neighbors said,
‘Your partridge has been drumming.’ I put an old stump in the box of
my captive, and it had the desired results, for the next morning it was
drumming loudly. I observed its motions when drumming, through a

hole in the box, and I am confident that the noise was caused by the wings’

coming forcibly in contact with each other. Let any person take the
wings of a dead grouse in his hands and beat them quickly together over
the bird’s back, and it will be seen at once that the peculiar sound made
by the ruffed grouse, and called drumming, is naturally produced. The
‘young-of-the-year’ of the male grouse drum in the autumn more fre-
quently than the adult males, as I have ascertained by shooting them
when in the act. I have found great difficulty in stalking the grouse
at their drumming-posts, and have often failed in my attempt to do it.
The male birds fight hard battles in the spring, and I once caught an old
cock by the legs in a snare, that had its head cut and bruised very badly,
and portions of its neck almost destitute of feathers, the effects of
fighting. ’’’ — Ridgway, R., in American Sportsman (quoted by Coues, Dr. E.,
in his Birds of the North-west, pp. 422-425).

“Thave myself never witnessed the act ; but my present view is that the
noise is made by beating the air simply,—not by striking the wings
either together or against the body or any hard object.’’ — Coues, Dr. E.:
Birds of the North-west, p. 425.

Finally, Mr. Torrey, who, after repeated observations,
declines to say how the “drumming” is done, records a
most amusing decision : —

“ A man who is a far better ornithologist than I, and who has witnessed
the performance under altogether more favorable conditions than I was ever

afforded, assures me that his performer sat down!” — Torrey, B.: A
Rambler’s Lease, p. 221.

200 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Loon. (See p. 95.)

Note: “Celia Thaxter says, ‘Loons seem to me the
most human and at the same time the most demoniac
of their kind. .. . Their long, wild, melancholy cry be-
fore a storm is the most awful note I have ever heard
from a bird. It is so sad, so hopeless,—a shudder of
sound.’ ”’ — C., S. P.

There can be no doubt that the loon flies under water,
as does the murre or guillemot, a bird of the same family
as the auk.

“T have just read your article in the November ‘Century’ on the loon,
and venture to write to confirm your supposition that the loon does use
its wings under water. I was born in Harrison, Cumberland County,
Maine, at the head of Long Lake; and one bright summer morning I
was standing on the top of the cabin of a canal-boat that was being
slowly ‘poled* along the shore of the lake where the water was some
ten feet deep with a sandy bottom. The lake was calm and the water
very clear. A loon that was swimming some distance from the boat
dove, and in a moment I saw him passing within about twenty feet of
the boat and about three feet under water. His wings were in rapid
motion, the same as if in the air; and he moved very swiftly. For the
first time I was able to understand how they could go so far under
water in so short atime. This was thirty-five years ago, and I was about
fifteen years old. I have never met any one else who has seen a loon
fly under water. My eyesight was remarkably good at the time, and I
am sure I could not have been mistaken.” — Blake, Grinfill, in a letter to
the author, dated February, 1888 (New Brunswick, N. J.).

See under Loon, White, Rev. G.: Nat. Hist. of Selborne.

Great Horned Owl.—Harmony. (See p. 98.)

“Did you ever hear harmony produced by bird-notes? Thanksgiving
I took a horseback trip to Mount Diablo. As I lay awake in camp, to-
wards morning a great horned owl began to hoot in its deep and not un-
tausical tones, hoo-hoo, hoo-to-hoo. Soon another began to call hard by, but
not on the same tone; there was one tone between them. The most sin-
gular effect was produced when the two birds hooted together, as they
did several times. It was a perfect chord of the third.” — Keeler, C. A.
in a note dated Dec, 16, 1890.

APPENDIX. 201

Screech-Owl. (See p. 100.)

Mr. Lowell, whose wont it is to see and hear the thing
commonly overlooked, regards the cry of this owl as “one
of the sweetest sounds in Nature.”

Hen Music and Talk. (See p. 104.)

“ As an example of bird language Mr. C. F. Holder says in
‘Wide Awake’ that the ordinary domestic fowl presents the
most interesting and perfect songs. Half an hour in a barn-
yard will demonstrate that certain sounds are the equivalent
of words. The crow of the cock is a challenge to another
cock, and is not noticed by the hens; but let him find a
delicate morsel and he stops crowing to utter a succession of
short notes: ‘Tuck, tuck, tuck, tuck!’ at which the hens
gather about him for their share of the dainty.

“The different notes, or ‘ baby-talk,’ of the mother hen are
of great variety, and mean quite different things. Every biddy
understands that ‘chuck, chuck, chuck!’ means ‘Come home
to your mother,’ just as the quick call, ‘tuck, tuck, tuck!’
means ‘come to your supper.’ Mr. Holder gives the follow-
ing brief chapter of domestic fowl language from a dictionary
too extended to present in unabridged form :—

‘ Ur-ka-do-dle-do-o-o. Challenge of male.
Tuck, tuck, tuck. Food call.
K-a-r-r-e. Announcing presence of hawk.
Cut, cut, ca-da-cut. Announcement of egg-laying.
Cluck, cluck, cluck. Call of young.
Kerr, kerr, kerr. Song of contentment of hen.
C-r-a-w-z-z-e. Quieting young chicks.
W-h-o-0-i-e (whistle). Expression of apprehension at night.
C-r-a-i-ai-o-u, Terror and protest at capture.’”
Newspaper clipping.

VARIOUS NOTATIONS

OF

THE MUSIC OF NATURE.

GROUPED ACCORDING TO THE SOURCE.

WOOD NOTES WILD. 205

FROM THE AUTHOR'S DIARY.

CROW.

ROOSTERS.

aan aie

4. On the Perch.

5. Out of doors,
: a - =>
A.
6. Lynn, Feb., 1886. Z ~~ 7. Again. aa
a

Cabo vs t t —f— rt t
Fey 2 t C i 4 ¥
I

tH

¥

8, Small. eS 9. oy i

3. Tome. 4. Out of doors, alone, uneasy.

206 WOOD NOTES WILD.

MARE.
For hay. Louder.
L = Dee. 23. 2. = Dec. %
sy} 2 na i —f—# £ ra z= ra —p—Fi
¢ # i b = = 2 7 a = —
3. For oats.
1 LJ 1 I, > ~ i
S———————
TWO-YEAR-OLD BULL,
tN oN fos
Ss | {|
Boh-00 wah, boh-o0 wah.
YOUNG COW.
Calling to go out to grass.
ay
ee oS aH
Bwa, bwa, bwa.
DOG.
Howling at the blowing of whistles. Lynn, January, 1888.
he eet Se A nO .> eo
1 kt Fd — r t T }

BULL-FROGS.

Near a floating bridge.
de

= = t

AL
a
Alt

yy

|

al

Ait

WOOD NOTES WILD. 207

2. 5.
CSS = = SS
=

Oung, oung, ah-ha, oung.

Made close observations this morning on Tim’s purr-
ing. I find that he varies the intervals. Have now
-heard him in a perfect fifth. He ranges, then, from one
to five of the scale.

— — os f a
5, x
td t i kes Pa | =a pitied Gait He. ‘ad

ge ge

aN
I 5
be: =f

oe — = y Hh

2 See aa

The rhythm also is varied; there is a crescendo and
ritardando as well, and the dynamics are good. So far
the higher tone is always given with the inhaling.

208 WOOD NOTES WILD.

D. H. BECKLER.
(Music of the Birds, in “ Die Gartenlaube ” for 1867, pp., 558-559.)

(Names of the birds are not given, simply the localities where the songs
were taken).

DARLING Downs. Heard frequently.

Al
A
.

1 There is something about the very look of these notes, from the
pen of a German traveller in Australia, that leads one to believe in their
accuracy. This reporter, if no ornithologist (kein Zoologe) is indisputa-
bly a musician. Unable, in many instances, to so much as catch a glimpse
of the singer, to say nothing of learning his name, he is concerned solely
with the voices he heard. Intent on correcting a prevalent impression in
Europe that the sweet bird-songs and the fragrant flowers flourish there
as nowhere else, he comes to the gist of the matter at once: The
grandest concerts of feathered singers (die grossartigsten Concerte von
gefiederten Séingern) are to be heard in the clime from which he writes.
From this he goes on to say, in substance, that, while the patient observer
can translate the lovely twittering (liebliche Gezwitscher) of the birds of
Germany into words or syllables, he can, with the requisite musical
knowledge, bring the melodies of the Australian songsters (die Melod:een
der luftigen Sanger Australiens) into our note-system with the nicest differ-
ences of tone and the most exact reproduction of the rhythmic movement

WOOD NOTES WILD. 209

ee i
hort pause,
—— a

Tenterfield, New England, in New South Wales.

4.i i ee e es
[ a > > = [2 3
aA or ad lid pause. —
ce ahaa a & —_— ~@.
| ao. ae I~ iN ¥ i; cd mt ia T OF:
j—7- = Z = an ee =
ad vw
3 v
if). 5 —_ |
bez T 8H uy at. + ri me 3 —J = |
p—s — 2? z = + + H
ta ¢ ¢ te =
———_,
5. Various localities.
cp > ke + > <= f
| a . ar aS ia ia a ¥ id i a T ai}
= = oH

T

or ad lib pause. —=]—¢ =—|—F}

st 7S e >

—_ ——/ —_

(biz zum feinsten Unterschied der Téne und mit der genauesten Wiedergabe
der rhythmischen Bewegung).

He says that he wrote his brother that the German birds, in comparison
with the Australian singers, were mere bunglers (Stiimper), and adds that
he did not have occasion to alter his opinion later on. Three times he
mentions the point of rhythm. ‘The litany of the owls is intoned in
exact rhythm (im strengsten Rhythmus). This paper, meritorious as it
is isolated in the annals of the most musical of nations, is heartily com-
mended to all readers, especially to those that question whether “ the little
bird-songs are melodies, are music.”

The songs from one to eleven are those of various unknown songsters,
Number three is reported as exceptional in its sweetness and tenderness
(Lieblichkeit und Zartheit), and is sung in strict rhythm, each tone being
delivered with singular precision. The letters e and i, over the notes,
indicate the breathing, — exhaling and inhaling.

Number twelve is the song of a bird the colonists call the “soldier” or
“Jeather-head,” and is described as containing in itself a world of melan-

14

210 WOOD NOTES WILD.

pe Eee

A 7 el et
iy er # eee eS

fa Na eS EL

12, Marcato. marcato.

a => => => => => => = => = =>

[ 7A ty i ry
gg
¥ "a ive 7d "A
v td Lf

a > => => => > = > => => => =>

| mn 2 K nt r 3 K r as]

choly (eine Welt von Melancholie). One can easily imagine the spell cast
by this woful, distinctly marked ditty struck up in the stillness of night.
See “ Gartenlaube,” 1867, pp. 558-9.

“For beauty and striking contrasts of plumage, the birds of Australia
are unrivalled, and the idea that they have no note or song is without
foundation. In the Australian Bush, what is more pleasant than to listen
in the early morning to the flute-like notes of the piping Crow-shrike
(Gymnorhina tibicen), and the rich and varied natural notes of the Lyre-
bird (Menura superba), far excelling those of the Song-thrush, and having
immense powers of mimicry and ventriloquism. This power of ventrilo-
quism is also possessed by the Atrichias, and the Oreoica, while the cheer-
ful notes of the Robins, Fly-catchers, and many others of the smaller birds
testify to the fact that our birds have both a pleasing note and varied
song.”

Guide tothe Contents of the Australian Museum (Sydney, 1890), p. 55.

211

WOOD NOTES WILD.

WILLIAM GARDINER.

(In “The Music of Nature,”)

NIGHTINGALE.

THROSTLE,

BLACKBIRD.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

212

Ox.

1

Cr

FOWLS.

1, In the morning.

2. In the evening.

T—*

=

am.

C

4, BANTAM CooK.

213

WOOD NOTES WILD.

CUCKOO.

LARK.

ASS.

214 WOOD NOTES WILD.

A. G. JOHNSTON.
(in “ Birds of Jamaica,” by Philip Henry Gosse.)

SOLITAIRE.

=
"4

cz + 5 + a 1]

Sometimes thus : — eel

APPENDIX, 215

J. E HARTING.
(In “ Birds of Middlesex.”’)

BLACKCAP, (Sylvia atricapitia.)

Passage in song of.
pn Svaalt. |, A

WILLOW WARBLER. (Sylvia trochilus. )+
J. V. Stewart, in “Birds of the N. E. coast of Donegal.’’

8va. alt.
REZ ri iY int ts fi
by a 2 ms oy. t. 8 Ss
iv in f. o wz ms = 5S aS
<4 i". al ta @- ui J
rt Ld a

i “ Its song, if deserving of that name, consists of ten whistling notes,
which it runs through the gamut of B, thus: [see notation.] The latter
notes are very soft, and run into each other.” — Quoted in Harting, J. E.:
Birds of Middlesex, p. 53.

Mr. Harting, speaking of the methods of reproducing bird-songs, says:

“A flute or flageolet will give the proper sound, but the most perfect
expression will be obtained with a small whistle, two and a half inches
long, and having three perforations. . . . By reducing the length of the
tube by a stop or plug, the whistle may, by experiment with the bird, be ad-
justed to the exact pitch, and the stop be then fixed. — Harting, J. E. : Birds
of Middlesex, Introduction, p. ix.

“ Colonel Hawker, in his ‘Instructions to Young Sportsmen’ (11th ed.
p. 269), says: ‘The only note which I ever heard the wild swan, in winter,
utter, is his well-known ‘whoop.’ But one summer evening I was amused
with watching and listening to a domesticated one, as he swam up and
down the water in the Regent’s Park. He turned up a sort of melody,
made with two notes, C and the minor third, E flat, and kept working
his head as if delighted with his own performance. The melody, taken
down on the spot by a first-rate musician, Auguste Bertini, was as
follows: [See Notation.]’

216 WOOD NOTES WILD.

SWAN.

Singing on the water in Regent’s Park. (Auguste Bertini.)
Allegro.

gaat Cc a | a SE AE GAT =|

Ease

| SE) OE > oa a ‘a [a a oe co os |

im Ec

? | eS

* - {a A A 3 a | Tf =
tL {a a a E aI

a

i

is T
:

“The Abbé Armaud has written some interesting remarks upon the
voice of the swan.1 He says : —

“The swan, with his wings expanded, his neck outstretched, and his
head erect, places himself opposite his mate, uttering a cry to which the
female replies by another half a note lower. The voice of the male rises
from A (la), to B flat (si bemol) ; that of the female from G sharp (sol
diése), to A.2 The first note is short and transient, and has the effect
which our musicians term sensible; so that it is not separated from the
second, but seems to glide into it. Observe that, fortunately for the ear,
they do not both sing at once; in fact, if, while the male sounded B flat,
the female gave A, or if the male uttered A while the female gave G
sharp, there would result the harshest and most insupportable of discords.
We may add that this dialogue is subjected to a constant and regular
rhythm, with the measure of two times (?). The keeper assured me
that during their amours, these birds have a cry still sharper, but much
more agreeable.’”” — Harting, J. E.: Ornith. of Shakespeare, pp. 201, 202,

I Wood's “ Buffon,” vol. xix. p. 511, note.
2 This, it will be observed, differs materially from Colonel Hawker's
observation.

APPENDIX. 217

SIR JOHN HAWKINS.

(In “ History of Science and Practice of Music.”)

— oe

BLACKBIRD.
Part of song.

CUCKOO,

, Cu-cu, cu-cu, cu- cu,

PIGRITIA, OR SLOTH.
KIRCHER.

c T + = “+ mi T
—————
ee = 3a HW

218 WOOD NOTES WILD.

ATHANASIUS KIRCHER.
(In “ Musurgia.”)

NIGHTINGALE.*

Glottismi modulationum sibilo exprimendi in Luscinia observati

i |
_—_—
—|

Pigolismus

1... unde infero Luscinias uti ad cantum ita & ad loquelam forman-
dam hand ita ineptas esse, quam multi credant; atque adeo historiam illam
de Lusciniis in Augustano diversorio Aldrouando teste, loquentibus non
ita adévarov esse, ac quispiam sibi persuadere possit ; imo omnes volucres
quas natura harmonioso cantu instruxit, habiles quoque easdem ad huma-
nam vocem formandam esse nihil dubito.

Regulus proximé sequitur Lusciniam, qui nonnullas in formandis
glottismis clausulas mutuat & Luscinia, etsi mints apté & celeriter.
Glottismos etiam, sed semper eodem modo format. Fringilla, Acanthis,
Parix, Phenicopterus, Rubecula, alauda & quotquot sunt aves phonasce,
quarum tamen nulla ad eam modulationum varietatem, quam Luscinia
exprimit, pertingit.

Reliquae volucres vocem quidem habent sonoram, sed nulla suprame-
morata glottismi specie adornatam, uti sunt, Gallus, Gallina, Coccyx,
Hirundo, Upupa, Ulula, Coturnix, similesque chm enim vox earum ad
hominum delectationem non sit ordinata, eam tantim vocem, que passio-
nibus animi explicandis sufficiat,exprimunt. Sed non abs re me facturum
existimavi, si quarundam voces hic musicis modulis referam.

APPENDIX. 919

et
Sypetaetepeouegeses &
Teretismus Glazismus

a a a CT SS
i 88
"4 > __6-_o-_6-—_

Glazismus Chromatico-enharmonicum nescio quid affectans

a re a a a ——~ Ze a Os
a SS —

220 WOOD NOTES WILD.

F. LESCUYER.

(In “ Langage et chant des oiseaux.” 1)

ROSSIGNOL,

1. 3 octaves above.

rime . J
é Exzpressivo. OE Ae

GRIVE CHANTEUSE.

1, 2. 2 octaves above.

1 “ Quand on a parlé du rossignol, il semble qu’il reste peu de choses &
dire des autres solistes,” says this author; but if his fantastic system
of notation is here correctly deciphered the charm of the singer must lie
in the quality of tone.

APPENDIX. 221

ALOUETTE DES CHAMPS.

1, 4 octaves above,
game

2. 3. 3 octaves above. A: 4 octaves above.
%,

5. 3 octaves above.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

222

ALFRED SMEE.

”)

(In “ My Garden.

THRUSH.

BLACKBIRD.

ray
rea
b
ry

APPENDIX. 223

“The two birds which really, upon the whole, are the best songsters
which build in my garden, where they exist in large numbers, are the
song thrush (Turdus musicus), and the blackbird (Zurdus merula).

“The song thrush sings from November till August. It is one of our
most joyous songsters, beginning to sing early in the morning and con-
tinuing till late at night. The poet Browning, speaking of this bird,
says:—

‘The wise thrush
. sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture,’

“The blackbird has a far softer and more melodious note than the
thrush ; but the note of the latter bird is more powerful, and his song
more constant. Together they form a delightful harmony, but they
more commonly sing alone than together. This country would be shorn
of half its pleasure if we were deprived of the notes of the thrush and
the blackbird.

“ Although birds delight us with their song, yet in my intercourse with
musical men I have found but few that have the power of recording
their notes. I therefore requested my brother, Mr. F. Smee, to visit my
garden and endeavor to take down the notes of the birds as they sang.
He reported that some of their musical phrases were in the minor key,
and I have printed several of the strophes as they were sung.” — Smee,
Alfred: My Garden, pp. 550-553.

224 _ WOOD NOTES WILD.

DR. F. WEBER.
(In “ Longman’s Magazine,” vol. ix., Feb. 1887, pp. 399, 400.)

Ses
WIND.
1. Over the roof of a house. ie Se
im -in-u-en-
= = = =
Ree _ a = dim. . 1. 2. -
+7 —t Ft ~t + +—n
t—- } t = + =H
2. Wailing.
cres, dit 5 + 4 6 *
Pee a aaa aaeae|
cow.
~~
A + =
t at

Barking.

APPENDIX, 225

HORSE.

CAT.
ene singe
COCK. ‘
cH caer 1 an mi YT i —+ uiy
oe o——| —- Hee } 3H

15

WOOD NOTES WILD.

226

ANNA HINRICHS.

“ The Popular Science News,”

in

*s Natural Orchestra,

(Summer

vol, xxv. no. ix.

1891.)

September,

,

Cock CHAFFER.

Answer.

Death-watch Call.

CRIOKET,

BUMBLE-BEE,

GRASSHOPPER.

HovsE-FLY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

* Indicates that the volume or article has not been examined by the editor.
** Indicates that the volume or article contains notations.

* Aaron, S. F. Odd Bird Songs. (Ornithologist and Oélogist, vol. viii.,
April, 1883, p. 28.)

Abbott, C. C. Outings at Odd Times. N. Y., 1890.

—— Waste-land Wanderings (Song of Eels and Fishes), pp. 300-301.
N. Y., 1887.

Agassiz, L., and Gould, A. A. Principles of Zodlogy. Boston, 1866.

Allen, C. N. Songs of Western Meadow Lark. (Zn Nuttall Ornitho-
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Allen, G. #sthetic Feeling in Birds. (Pop. Sci. Mo., vol. xvii., Sept.,
1880, pp. 653-654.)

—— Ancestry of Birds. (Zongman’s Mag., vol. iii., Jan., 1884, pp. 284-298.)

*—— Physiological Aisthetics. London, 1877.

Allen, J. A. Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Mass, (Amer.
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Birds in Wood and Field. (Swiss Cross, vol. iv., 1888, no. 6, p. 162.)

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Aristophanes. Comedies; with notes by W. J. Hickie. 2 vols. (The
Birds, in vol. i.), London, 1877-78.

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1869, pp. 272-276.)

Audubon, J.J. Birds of America. 7 vols. N. Y., 1840-44.

Auk, The: a quarterly journal of ornithology, ed. by J. A. Allen, Boston.

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Australian Museum, Guide to the Contents of, p. 55. Sydney, 1890.

Axon, W.E. A. Voiceof Animals. (British Almanac, 1885, pp. 104-114.)

Baily, W.L. Our Own Birds (U.S.). Phila., 1885.

230 WOOD NOTES WILD.

Baird, S. F.,ed. Ann. Record of Science, 1877. (See pp. 282-309.)

Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway. Hist. of N. American Birds. 5 vols.
Boston, 1874.

Banvard, J. Curious Habits of Birds. Boston, 1850.

*Barrington, D. Experiments and Observations on the Singing of Birds.
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— Language of Birds, The. (Zn Pennant’s British Zodlogy, vol. iii.)

Bates, H.W. The Naturalist on the River Amazons. 4th ed. London,
1875.

Bechstein, J. M. Chamber and Cage Birds (Introduction). Tr. by
W. E. Shuckard. London, n. d.

** Beckler, D. H., in Gartenlaube, 1867.

** Belding, L. Small Thrushes of California. (California Acad. of
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Bicknell, E. P. <A Study of the Singing of our Birds. (The Auk,
vol. i., 1884, pp. 60, 126, 209, 322; vol. ii., 1885, pp. 144, 249).

Bird Lore. (All the Year Round, n.s. vol. xx., May 11, 1878, pp. 365-370.)

Bird Music. (Littell’s Liv. Age, vol. xxix., 1851, p. 812.)

* Bird Singing at Night. (Naturalist’s Note-book, 1868, p. 252.)

Birds. (North British Review, vol. xxx., 1859, pp. 325-327.)

* Birds of Switzerland. (Naturalist’s Note-book, 1868, p. 1.)

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*Blackwall, J. Bemerkungen iiber den Vogelgesang. In Notizen
aus dem Gebiete der Natur u. Heilkunde (Erfurt u. Weimar), vol.
xi., 1825, pp. 292-296.

*—— Catalogue of Singing Birds, with the time of their beginning and
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— Same abridged. (In Good, J.M., The Book of Nature, 1849, p. 189.)

* (In Philos. Mag. and Journal, London, vol. lxvi., July, 1825).

—— See Notes of Birds. (Amer. Journ. of Sci. and Art; ed. by B. Silliman,
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*—— Researches in Zodlogy. London, 1834.

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Oct. 1891, pp. 832-837.) From Revue Scientifique.

Boyle, Mrs. E. V.(G.) Days and Hours in a Garden. By “E. V.B.”
Boston, 1884,

APPENDIX. 231

Brand, J. Observations on Popular Antiquities. Rev.ed. London, 1877.

Brehm, A.C. Gefangene Vogel. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1871.

* Brehm and Hausmann. Journal fiir Ornithologie, 1855, pp. 348-351 ;
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*—— In Naumania. 1855, pp. 54, 96, 181.

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British Song-birds, Treatise on. Illus. Edinburgh, 1823.

Broderip, W.J. Zodlogical Recreations. London, 1862.

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vols. x.-xx.) London, 1812.

Buist, Dr. Bombay Times, Jan., 1847 ; Feb. 13, 1849.

*Burgh, A. Anecdotes of Music. 3 vols. London, 1814.

Burritt, E. English and American Birds. 16 pp. (Jn Life and Labors
of E. Burritt, ed. by C. Northend, p. 311.)

Burroughs, J. Birds and Poets, with other Papers. N. Y., 1878.

—— Signs and Seasons. Boston, 1890.

— Wake-robin. 2ded. Boston, 1881.

Cabot, J. E. Our Birds, and their Ways. (Atlantic Monthly, vol. i., 1857,
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California Academy of Sciences. Proceedings.

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APPENDIX. 239

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%

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

6 fae editor is under obligations to the following authors

and publishers for prompt response to his calls upon
their generosity ; and while others might well be mentioned,
he must not omit to express special indebtedness to Mr. A. J.
Rudolph, First Assistant Librarian of the San Francisco Free
Public Library, for skilled assistance in the proof-reading, and
in the preparation of the index.

Allen, Grant. — Allen, J. A., Curator American Museum of Natural
History, Central Park, N. Y. — Amory, Catherine F., Editor of the
“Swiss Cross.” — Belding, L. — Bicknell, Eugene P. — Brewster,
William. — Burroughs, John.— Coleman, A. P., Faraday Hall, Vic-
toria University, Coburg, Ontario. — Collier, P. F., Editor of “Once
a Week.” Permission to quote from E. A. Samuexs, Our North-
ern and Eastern Birds. —Coues, Dr. Elliott. — Educational Publish-
ing Company, permission to quote from W. Friaee, A Year with
the Birds. — Estes and Lauriat, permission to quote from Dr. ExxiotTr
Cours, Birds of the North-west; H. D. Mrtnot, Land-birds and
Game-birds of New England.— Fewkes, Dr. J. Walter, Boston So-
ciety of Natural History.— Foster, L. S., Publisher of “The Auk.” —
Golz, Dr. Justizrath, Berlin. — Goodwin, W. L., Queen’s University,
Kingston, Ontario. —Granauer, Dr. F., of K. K. Universitiits-Biblio-
thek, Vienna. — Horsford, B.— Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., permis-
sion to quote from B. Torrey, Birds in the Bush. — Ingersoll, Ernest.
—Leach, Dr. M. L.— Little, Brown, & Co., permission to quote
from S. F. Barrp, T. M. Brewer, and R. Ripewar, Hist. of Amer.
Birds; H. L. Newson, Bird-songs about Worcester.— Macmillan &
Co., permission to quote from C. Warerron, Wanderings in South
America. — Mayer, Alfred M., Professor of Physics, Stevens Institute
of Technology, Hoboken, N. J.—-Merriam, C. Hart., Ornithologist

16

242 WOOD NOTES WILD.

U. S. Dep’t of Agriculture. — Miller, Olive Thorne. — Minot, Heury D.
— Palmer, T. &., Acting ornithologist, U. S. Dep’t of Agriculture. —
Pfluger, C. F., Sec’y of the Soc. for the Introduction of Useful Sing-
ing-birds into Oregon.— Ridgway, Robert, Smithsonian Institution. —
Russ, Dr. Karl, Editor of “ Die gefiederte Welt.” — Samuels, Edward A.,
President of Massachusetts Fish and Game Protective Association. —
Sully, J.— Thomae, F., Librarian, University Library, Tiibingen. —
Thompson, Maurice.— Torrey, Bradford.— Walker, R. C., Prin-
cipal Librarian Free Public Library, New South Wales. — Weber,
Dr. F., of London.— Youmans, W. J., Popular Science Monthly.

INDEX.

INDEX.

Aaron, 8. F., 229.

Abbott, Dr. C. C., 126, 229.

Aberdevine, 180.

Accentor, Golden-crowned. See Oven-
bird.

Aisthetic sense denied to animals, 142.

Agassiz, L., and Gould, A. A., 140,
229.

All the year round (magazine), 142,
171, 229, 230, 236.

Allen, C. N., 229.

Allen, G., 135, 229, 241; Harmonic
intervals in bird-music, 184; Oven-
bird, 167.

Allen, J. A., 229, 241; Baltimore ori-
ole, 168; Blue Jay, 168; Crow, 168;
Meadow-lark, 168; Oriole, 168;
Towhee, 168.

Alouette des champs. Notations, 221.

American goldfinch. See Yellow-bird.

American journal of science and arts,
175, 237.

American Museum of Natural History,
N. Y., 229.

American naturalist (magazine), 141.

American nightingale. See Thrush
(turdus fuscescens).
American warblers. See Warbler

(sylvicolide).

Amory, Catherine, 158, 165, 229, 241.

Animals, Aisthetic sense denied to,
142; Voices of, See Notations.

Ant, Music of, 128.

Antrostomus vociferus. See Whip-
poorwill.

Ape (Gibbon), Music of, 129.

Aristophanes, 182, 229.

Arnaud, Abbé. Voice of swan, 216.

Asbury, Alice, 229.

Ass, 129; Gardiner, W. Notation, 213.

Assisi, Saint Francis d’. See Francis
d’ Assisi.

Atrichias, Ventriloquism among the,
210.

Audubon, J. J., vi, vii; Drumming
of partridge, 196, 197, 198, 229; In-
ability to describe the songs of birds,
114; Night-hawk booming, 196 ;
Oven-bird, 166.

Augurs. Signs from birds, 171.

Auk, The (magazine), 229.

Ausland, Das (magazine), 234.

Austin, G. L., 229; Bullfinch, 175.

Australia. Plumage of birds, 210;
Bird-songs in, 209.

Australian Museum, Guide to, 210,
229.

Author, Letters, notes, etc., by. Au-
thor’s power of memory, 188; Auto-
graph ( facsimile and transcript) of,
x, xi. Bird-songs at Lynn and Frank-
lin, 158 ; Bobolink, 192; Collection of
bird-songs, when begun, v; Extem-
porizing of the field-sparrow, 148;
Improvement in bird-song, 174; In-
strument for taking pitch of bird-
songs, 191; Last days of, 171; Mode
of taking the bird-songs, 161; New-
ness of the field, 113, 114, 116, 121,
124; Night-hawk booming, 196;
Notation of Indian-songs from the
phonograph, 172; Notations from
diary of, 205; Notations of song-
sparrow by W. Flagg and the: au-
thor, 125; Song of a caged robin, 174;
Song of bobolink cannot be copied,

246

115; Song of oriole at burial of,
170; Song of Wilson’s thrush, 164;
Thaxter, C., on loons, 200; Whip-
poorwill, 168; Wood-pewee, 143;
Wood thrush, 161.

Axon, W. E. A., 140, 229,

Batty, W. L., 229.

Baird, 8. F., 128, 230, 239.

Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 149,
280; Fox-colored sparrow, 155; Her-
mit thrash, 165; Oven-bird, 167;
Scarlet tanager, 185; Tawny thrush,
163; Wood thrush, 162, 165.

Baltimore oriole. See Oriole (icterus
Baltimore).

Banvard, J., 230.

Barrington, D., 230; Definition of bird-
song, 122; Imitation in singing-
birds, 174, 175; Intervals in bird-
songs, 121; Song-birds, quoted by
W. J. Broderip, 121; Table of com-
parative merit of British singing-
birds, 180.

Bates, H. W., 128, 230; Cricket music,
128; Organ-bird, 186.

Batty, J. H. Drumming of partridge,
198.

Bechstein, J. M., 193, 230.

Beckler, D. H., 230; Notations by, re-
ferred to by Dr. Golz, 115; Various
notations of bird-songs (and note by
editor), 208.

Bee. Hinrichs, A. Notation, 226.
Belding, L., 280, 241; Big-tree thrush,
162; Variations in bird-songs, 163.

Bell-bird, 195; Waterton, C., 196.

Berthoud, H. Bird of paradise, 186.

Bertini, A. Swan (notation quoted by
J. E. Harding), 216.

Bicknell, E. P., 146, 230, 241; Effect
of moult and fatness on the singing
of birds, 147 ; Oven-bird, 166; Song-
sparrow, 147.

Bird language. See Bird-song.

Bird music. See Bird-song.

Bird of paradise. Berthoud, H., 186.

Bird-song. (See also Bird-songs. —

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Birds.— Borrowing from the birds.—
Imitation. — Music. — Night-songs.
—Notations.—Songs.—Song-birds.)

' Affinity of tones, 6; Allen,G. Har-

monic intervals in, 134; Allen, J. A.
Variations in, 168; At Franklin, 158;
At Lynn, 158; At Worcester, 158;
Audubon, J. J. Inability to de-
scribe the songs of the birds, 114;
Barrington, D. Definition of, 122,
Intervals in, 121, Table of compara-
tive merit of British singing-birds,
180; Belding, L. Variations in, 163;
Bicknell, E. P. Effect of moult and
fatness on, 147; Birds sing flat, 152;
Birds sing out of tune, 152; Bright
plumage vs. song, 185; Burgh, A.
Birds are instinctive musicians, 135 ;
Childish writing on music of the
birds, 124; Development of, 8; En-
ergy expended in, 190; Evolution of,
5, 188; Gassendi, P. Prefers bird-
song to human music, 133; Genesis
of, 5, 184; Harmonic affinities in,
132, 183; Harmony produced by
bird-notes, 200; Improvement in,
174; Indescribable, 7, 166 ; Intervals
in, 188; Jesse, E. Variations in,
173; Knapp, J. L. No improve-
ment in, 176; Localities, 113; Miller,
O. T. Variations in, 169; Morning
song in Jamaica, 153; Nelson, H.
L. Change in key, 164; Organs of
song, 140; Pitch in, 181; Placzek,
Dr, B. Origin of the song-habit,
139; R.,M.H. Bird-songs cannot
be copied, 114; Rhythm in, 131,
154, 208; Structure of melody, 130;
Sully, J. Intervals in, 182, Rhythm
in, 181, Sexual selection improves
voice, 138, Tonality in, 182; Sus-
tentation of tones in, 117; Time in
bird music, 131; Tonality or key in,
181; Torrey, B., 188; Variation in
the singing of same birds, 8; Varia-
tion of song between young and old
birds, 25, 26; Various notations of
music of nature, 203; Waltz and
bird-songs compared, 134; Whistling

e

INDEX.

of birds, 133; Why birds sing, 5,
189.

Bird-songs. (See also Bird-song.—
Birds.—Imitation.—Music.—Night-
songs.— Notations. —Songs.) Are
not music, 123; Author’s collection
of, when begun, v; Author’s mode
of taking, 161; Big-tree thrush and
wood thrush, 162; Flagg, W. On
copying of, 114; Fowler, W. W.
Bird-songs cannot be copied, 114;
Golz, Dr. Bird-songs can be copied,
115; Harting, J. E. Reproducing
of, 215; Illustrations of, in refuta-
tion of Wm. Pole, 123.

Birds. (See also Bird-song. — Bird-
songs. — Borrowing from the birds.
—Song-birds.) Dancing of, 186;
Imported songsters, 182; Jenner,
Dr. Signs from, 171; Legend of
Saint Francis d’Assisi, 170; Plu-
mage of, in Australia, 210 ; Prices
of imported singing-birds, 184,

Birmingham, J., 230.

Bishop. Buffon, G. L. L., comte de.
Organist same as, 186; Le Page du
Pratz, (— ), 186.

Black-billed cuckoo. See Cuckoo (coc-
cygus erythrophthalmus).

Blackbird (turdus merula), 176, 180;
Notations: Gardiner, W., 211, Haw-
kins, Sir J., 217, Smee, A., 222;
Smee, A., 223.

Blackcap, 180; Harting, J. E. Nota-
tion, 215.

Black-capped titmouse. See Chickadee
(parus atricapillus).

Black-throated green warbler.
Warbler (dendroica virens).

Blackwall, J., 175, 230.

Blake, G. Loon, 200.

Blanchard, E., 140, 230.

Blue Jay. Allen, J. A., 168.

Bluebird (sialia sialis). (See also Cat-
bird, 52.) Minot, H. D., 144; Nel-
son, E. W., 145; Notations, 11;
Nuttall, T., 145.

Bob White. See Quail.

Bobolink (dolichonyx oryzivorus), 82,

See

247

175, 191; Cheney, S. P. Song can-
not be copied, 7, 115; Difference be-
tween song of old and young, 26;
Hayward, Miss C. A., 194; In the
réle of a canary, 193; Minot, H. D.,
193; Notations, 83; Wilson, Dr. A.,
193.

Bombay times (newspaper), 127.

Bonasa umbellus. See Ruffed grouse.

Bonnier, P., 230.

Booming. Night-hawk, 196.

Borrowing from the birds. Chewink,
45; Kingsley, Rev. C., 1384; Old
Dan Tucker borrowed from the hens,
108; Rooster, 105.

Boyle, Mrs. E. V. (G.), 280.

Brand, J., 171, 231.

Brehn, A. C., vii, 281.

Brehm and Hausmann, 231.

Brewster, W., 241; Drumming of par-
tridge, 197.

Brimley, C. S., 231.

British singing-birds. Barrington’s
table of comparative merit of, 180.
Broderip, W. J., 231; Song-birds
(quoted from D. Barrington), 121.
Brown mocker. See Thrush (harpo-

rhynchus rufus).

Brown thrasher. See Thrush (harpo-
rhynchus rufus).

Brown thrush. See Thrush (harpo-
rhynchus rufus).

Browning, R. Song thrush (poem),
223.

Bubo Virginianus. See Great horned
owl.

Buckland, F., 126,140, 231.

Buffon, G. L. L., comte de, 216, 231;
Bishop same as organist, 186; Or-
ganist, 186.

Buist, Dr., 281; Musical fishes, 126.

Bull. Notations, 120, 206.

Bullfinch, 138; Austin, G. L., 175,

Bumble-bee. Hinrichs,A. Notations,
226.

Burgh, A., 231; Birds are instinctive
musicians, 135.

Burritt, E., 231.

Burroughs, J., 152, 166, 231, 241;

248

Chestnut-sided warbler, 157; Fox-
colored sparrow, 155; Hermit thrush,
164; Linnet, 149; Rose-breasted
grosbeak, 188; Wood-pewee, 143;
Wood thrush, 164.

C., 8. P. See Author.

Cabot, J. E., 175, 231.

Calandria. See Mocking-bird (mimus
orpheus), 181.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Church, Mrs. E. R., 231.

Clark, J. W. 231.

Clark, X., 182, 188, 134, 231.

Clothes-rack. Notation, 4.

Coccygus Americanus. See Yellow-
billed cuckoo.

Coccyguserythrophthalmus. See Black-
billed cuckoo.

Cock. See Rooster.

Cock chaffer. Hinrichs, A. Nota-
tion, 226.

California Academy of Sci , 231.

Campanero (Bell-bird), 195.

Canary, 176; Bobolink in the réle of
a, 193.

- Carlyle, T. On music of nature, 129.
Carpédacus purpureus. See Linnet.
Cat. Weber, Dr. F. Notations, 225.
Cat-bird (mimus Carolinensis), Nota-

tions, 52; Stearns, W. A., 159.

Century magazine, 148.

Chaffinch, 160, 180.

Chat, Yellow-breasted (icteria viridis).
(See also Cat-bird, 52.) Notations,
80; Nuttall, T., 191; Wilson, Dr.
A., 79.

Cheney, Mrs. Julia C. Author's last
days, 171; Author’s method of tak-
ing the bird-songs, 161.

Chestnut-sided warbler. See War-
bler (dendroica Pennsylvanica).

Chewink (pipilo erythrophthalmus),
8; Notations, 45, 118, 156; ‘‘ Rock
of ages ’’ and song of, 45, 118; Tor-
rey, B. Extemporizing of, 155;
Wilson, Dr. A., 45.

Chickadee (parus atricapillus). De-
voutness of song of, 8; Flagg, W.,
142; Minot, H. D., 143; Notations,
27, 123, 142.

Chickens. See Fowl language. —
Hen. — Rooster.

Chiff-chaff, 160.

Chipmunk charmed by music, 142.

Chipping sparrow. See Sparrow (spi-
zella socialis),

Chordeiles Virginianus. See Night-
hawk.

Chrysomitris tristis. See Yellow-bird.

Colaptes auratus. See Golden-winged
woodpecker.

Coleman, A. P., 231, 241; Scarlet
tanager, 185.

Collier, P. F., 241.

Colt. (See also Horse.) Notations, 205.

Colymbus torquatus. See Great
northern diver.

Contopus virens.

Cooper, J. G., 281.

Corwin, U. S. Revenue-steamer, 2381.

Coues, Dr. E., vi, 196, 281, 241; Chig-
ping sparrow, 40; Drumming of
partridge, 196, 199; Field-sparrow,
85; Hermit thrush, 59; Oven-bird,
62; Wood-pewee, 143.

Cow. (See also Bull.) Musicoving
cows, 141; Notation, 206; Weber,
Dr. F. Notation, 224.

Cowper, W. Ode to the nightingale
(Song thrush ?), 181.

Cricket. Hinrichs, A. Notation,
226; Music of, 128.

Crow, 175; Allen, J. A., 168; Nota-
tion, 205.

Crow-shrike (gymnorhina tibicen), 210.

Crowest, F. J., 186, 231.

Crustaceans, Stridulating, 128.

Cuckoo, 2, 160; Gardiner, W., 195;
Haweis, Rev. H.R. Cuckoo's song,
116 ; Intervals in song of, 2, 88,
116, 135, 194, 195; Kircher, A.,
195; Mitford, (—), 194; Notations,
194,195; Gardiner, W., 213; Haw-
kins, Sir J., 217; Originator of
the minor scale, 135; Song of
Cuckoo and golden-winged wood-
pecker, 30.

See Wood-pewee.

'

INDEX.

Cuckoo, Black-billed (coccygus ery-
throphthalmus). Notations, 87.
Cuckoo, English. Intervals in song

of, 116, 195.

Cuckoo, Yellow-billed (coccygus Amer-
tcanus ?), 194; Minot, H. D., 194;
Notation, 89.

Cunz, B., 232.

Curlew, 192.

Cyanospiza cyanea. See Indigo-bird.

Cyphorhinus cantans. See Organ-bird.

Danorne and singing, 186.
Dara (Bell-bird), 195.
Darwin, C., 129, 196, 232.
Darwin, F., 232.

Davis, W. T., 126, 232.

Death-watch. Hinrichs, A.
tions, 226.

DeKay, J.-E., 282.

Dekum, F., President. Society for
Introduction of Singing-birds- into
Oregon, 183.

Dendroica estiva. See Yellow warbler.

Dendroica Pennsylvanica. See War-
bler.

Dendroica virens. See Black-throated
green warbler. :
Derby and Jackson (publishers), 235.
Diver, Great northern (colymbus tor-
quatus), 95; Blake, G. Flying un-
der water (Loon), 200; Notations,
97, 117; Thaxter, C. Loon, 200;
Vickary, N., 97; Wilson, Dr. A.,

95.

Dog. Notations : 206, Gardiner, W.
213, Weber, Dr. F., 224.

Dolichonyx oryzivorus. See Bobolink.

Donkey. Weber, Dr. F. Notation,
224.

Drumming. See Grouse, Ruffed.

Duck, Wild. Notation, 136.

Nota-

Ecrecric magazine, 142, 181, 230,
236, 237.

Edinburgh Philos. journ., 126.

Educational Publishing Company, 241.

249

Edwards, W. H., 282.

Eel, Music of, 126.

Emblem of the song guild, 129.

Emerson, R. W., 27, 193.

Encyclopedia Britannica, 140, 171,
282.

Encyclopedia Perthensis, 232.

Energy expended in bird-song, 190.

English cuckoo. See Cuckoo.

Estes and Lauriat, 241.

Evans, Rev. W. E., 282.

Extemporizing. Chewink, 45; Field-
sparrow, 148; Flagg, W. Che-
wink, 156; Torrey, B. Chewink,
155.

Farness. Bicknell, E. P. Effect of,
on the singing of birds, 147.

Fewkes, Dr. J. W., 241; Author's
notation of nature-music from the
phonograph, 172.

Field-sparrow. See Sparrow (spizella
pusilla).

Finch, Purple. See Linnet (¢arpoda-
cus purpureus).

Fish, E. E., 187, 142, 232.

Fishes, Musical, 126.

Flagg, W., 142, 175, 282; Chewink
extemporizes, 156; Copying of bird-
songs, 114; Hermit thrush, 59; No-
tations by Flagg and the author,
125; Whippoorwill and quail, 168.

Flat, Birds sing, 152.

Flat-bill, 153.

Fletcher, W. 1., 282.

Flicker. See Woodpecker (colaptes
auratus).

Fly-catchers in Australia, 210.

Flying under water (Loon). Blake,
G., 200.

Forbes, H. O., 128, 282.

Forbes, Maj. J., 171, 282.

Forest and stream (periodical), 232.

Foss, J., 188. —

Foster, L. S., 241.

Fowl language. Holder, C. F., 201.

Fowler, W. W., 232; Bird-songs can-
not be copied, 114.

250

Fowls. Gardiner, W. Notations, 212.

Fox-colored sparrow. See Sparrow
(passerella iliaca).

Francheschini, R., 128, 232.

Francis d’Assisi, Saint, Legend of,
170.

Fraser’s magazine, 231.

Free-willers, Worship of, 64.

Frog, Bull. Notations, 206.

Frog, Music of, 127.

Funeral chants, Origin of, 136.

Funk, N., 196, 232.

Garnzore, Dr., 232.

Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow.
Notation, 153.

Gardiner, W., 128, 282; Notations:
Ass, 213, Blackbird, 211, Cuckoo,
195, 213, Dog, 212, Fowls, 212,
Hen, 211, Horse, 212, Lark, 213,
Nightingale, 211, Ox, 212, Throstle,
211.

Gartenlaube (magazine), 128, 182,
210, 233, 236, 240.

Gassendi, P., 233; Bird-songs pre-
ferred to human music, 133.

Gefiederte Welt, Die (magazine), 233.

Genesis of bird-song, 134.

Gentleman’s magazine, 137, 232, 237.

Geopelia tranquilla, Gould. See
Ventriloquist dove.

Gibbs, Dr. M., 233.

Giraud, J. P., Jr., 233; Hermit thrush,
165.

Gnat. Hinrichs, A. Notation, 226.

Goldfinch. (See also Yellow bird.) 180.

Goldfinch, American. See Yellow
bird.

Golz, Dr. (—), of Berlin, vii, 181,
241; Bird-songs can be copied,
115; Notations of bird-songs by
D. H. Beckler, 115; Song of gray
nightingale cannot be copied, 115.

Goniaphea Ludoviciana. See Gros-
beak.

Good, J. M., 233.

Goodwin, W. L., 233, 241; Birds
sing out of tune, 152.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Gosse, P. H., 196, 233; Buffon’s or-
ganist not same as solitaire, 187;
Mocking - bird of Jamaica, 160;
Morning song in Jamaica, 154.

Goulding, F. R., 233.

Grahame, Rev. J., 233.

Granauer, Dr. F., of Vienna, vii,

Grasshopper. Hinrichs, A. Nota-
tions, 226.

Gray nightingale. See Nightingale.
Gray wag-tail, 160. :
Great horned owl. See Owl (bubo

Virginianus).

Great northern diver.
(colymbus torquatus).
Greene, Dr. W. T., 233.

Greenfinch, 180.

Griswold, W. M., 233,

Grive chanteuse. Notations, 220.

Grosbeak, Purple. See Linnet (Cor-
podacus purpureus).

See Diver

Grosbeak, Ruse-breasted, 188; Bur- ,

roughs, J., 188; Notation, 76.

Grouse, Ruffed (bonasa umbellus), 92;
Drumming of: Audubon, J. J., 196,
197, 198, Batty, J. H., 198, Brew-
ster, W., 197, Coues, Dr. E., 196,
199, Henshaw, H. W., 197, 198,
Minot, H. D., 197, Nuttall, T., 197,
198, Ridgway, R., 199, Samuels, E.
A., 197, Torrey, B., 199, Wilson,
Dr. A., 94,197, 198; Notations, 94.

Gymnorhina tibicen. See Crow-
shrike.

Hatpemay, S. S., 233.

Hamerton, P. G., 233.

Hamilton, E., 233.

Hamm, W.., 233.

Hardy, J., 283.

Harmonic affinities in bird music, 182,
133. ‘

Harmony produced by bird-notes, 200.

Harper’s magazine, 141, 142, 229, 236.

Harporhynchus rufus. See Thrush,

Harry Wicket. See Woodpecker
(colaptes auratus).

INDEX.

Harting, J. E., 216, 233; Notations:
Blackcap, 215; Reproducing bird-
songs, 215; Willow warbler, 215.

Haweis, Rev. H. R. Cuckoo’s song
nearest approach to music in nature,
116.

Hawk. See Night-hawk.

Hawker, Col. (—). Swan, 215.

Hawkins, Sir J., 142, 233; Notations:
Blackbird, 217, Cuckoo, 217,

Hayward, Miss C.A. Bobolink, 194.

Hedge-sparrow, 180.

Helmholtz, H. L. F., 233; Structure
of melody, 130.

Hen. Composer of Old Dan Tucker,
108; Holder, C. F., 201, Fowl lan-
guage, 201; Music and talk of, 201;
Notations: 104, Gardiner, W., 211,
Kircher, A., 217.

Henderson, W. J., 233; Nothing in
nature that resembles music, 116.
Henshaw, H. W. Drumming of par-

tridge, 197, 198.

Hérissant, (—), 140, 233.

Hermit thrush. See Thrush (turdus
pallasi).

Hibberd, S., 233; Night songs, 160.

Higginson, T. W., 165, 234; Robin,
145.

High Hole. See Woodpecker (colaptes
auratus).

Hill, R. Mocking-bird, 178; Solitaire,
187.

Hinrichs, Miss Anna, 128, 234; Nota-
tions: Bumble-bee, 226, Cock chaffer,
226, Cricket, 226, Death-watch, 226,
Gnat, 226, House-fly, 226.

Hittock. See Woodpecker (colaptes
auratus).

Holder, C. F. Fowl language, 201;
Hen music and talk, 201; Rooster,
201.

Horse, 129; Notations of: 119, Gar-
diner, W., 212, Weber, Dr. F.,
225.

Horsford, B., 234, 241; Thrush (Wood
thrush ?), 165; White-throated spar-
Tow, 152.

Houghton, Mifflin, & Co., 241.

251
House-fly. Hinrichs, A. Notation,
226.
Howell, A. H., 234.

Hoxie, W., 234.

Hudson, W. H., 187, 187, 234; Music
and dancing in nature, 187; White-
banded mocking-bird, 176.

Human speech, Birds reproduce com-
plex forms of, 176.

Human voice. Bates, H. W. Organ-
bird’s song like, 186.

Inrs (magazine), 234.

Icteria viridis. See Chat.

Icterus Baltimore. See Oriole.

Imitation, 178, 174. (See also Mimicry.)
American mocking-bird, 176; Bar-
rington, D. Robin and nightingale,
174; Robin, skylark-linnet, wood-
lark linnet, 175; Blackbird, 176 ;
Bobolink, 175; Canaries, 176; Crow,
175; Hill, R. Mocking-bird, 178;
Hudson, W. H. White-banded
mocking-bird, 176; Human speech
reproduced by birds, 137, 176;
Thrush, 176; Sedge warbler, 176;
Virginia mocking-bird, 178.

Improvement in bird-song, 174.

Inanimate music. See Clothes-rack. —
Door. — Niagara. — Water drop-
ping. See also Music in nature. —
Notations.

Indian songs from the phonograph,
Author’s notation of, 172.

Indigo-bird (cyanospiza cyanea). No-
tations, 85.

Ingersoll, E., 146, 284, 241; Female
oriole, 169.

Ingersoll, E., and others, 234; Voice
of the goldfinch, 157.

Insect music. See Ant. — Bumble-
bee. — Cock chaffer. — Cricket. —
Death-watch — Gnat. — Grasshop-
per. — House-fly. — Notations.

Insects, Musical organs and music of,
141.

Intervals in bird-song.
song.

See Bird-

252

JaEGcER, B., 234; Cricket music, 128.

Jamaica, Morning song in, 153.

Jefferies, R., 234; Ventriloquism ex-
plained, 151.

Jenner, Dr. (—). Signs from birds,
171.

Jesse, E., 234; Thrush, 173; Variations
in bird-song, 173.

Job, 141.

Johnston, A. G. Solitaire (notations),
214.

Journal fiir Ornithologie, 234.

KAMTSCHATKALES use chords, §, %,
136.

Keeler, C. A., 234; Great horned owl,
200; White-throated sparrow, 153.

Kennedy, (—), 284.

Key, Change in. Nelson, H. L., 164.

Key, or tonality, in bird music, 131.

Kingsley, Rev. C., 234; Borrowing
from the birds, 134.

Kircher, A., 129, 137, 140, 142, 234;
Cuckoo, 195; Notations: Hen, 217;
Nightingale, 218, Pigritia, or sloth,
217.

Knapp, J. L., 234; No progress in
animal music, 176.

Knight, F. A., 182, 195, 234,

Lasovutsing, Dr. A., 234.

Landois, H., viii, 128, 235.

Larboard watch ahoy. Notations, 48,
117.

Lark. See also Sky-lark.

Lark, Names of saints pronounced by,
137; Gardiner, W. Notation, 213;
Macgillivray, W., 193; Wood, Rev.
J. G., 190.

Lark, Field. Lescuyer, F. Notations,
221.

Lark, Meadow (sturnella magna).
Allen, J. A., 168; Notations, 33,
118, 124; Rhythmic beats of, 154;
Tremolo of, 7; Wilson, Dr. A., 33.

Lark, Wood, 160, 179, 180, 181.

Leach, Dr. M. L., 235, 241; White-
throated sparrow, 151.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Leather-head. Notation (No. 12),
210.

Lee, H., 235.

Leopardi, G., 235.

Le Page du Pratz, ( — ), 235; Bishop,
186.

Lescuyer, F., 182, 235; Notations:
Field-lark (alowette des champs), 221,
Nightingale (rossignol), 220, Thros-
tle (grive chanteuse), 220.

LeVaillant, F., 235.

Lewis, E. J., 235.

Library of entertaining knowledge,
141, 176, 182, 194, 232.

Lindsay, Lady A., 235.

Lindsay, W. L., 235.

Linnet (carpodacus purpureus), 180;
Burroughs, J., 149; Nelson, H. L.,
149; Notations, 37.

Lionet, Skylark. Barrington, D.,175.
Linnet, Woodlark. Barrington, D.,
175.

Littell’s living age (magazine), 129,
142, 175, 182, 193, 230, 236, 237.

Little, Brown, & Co., 241.

Localities where the songs were taken,
113.

Lockwood, Rev. S., 126, 235.

Longman’s magazine, 130.

Loon. See Diver (colymbus torquatus).

Lost hunter, 191.

Louisiana thrush, 62. See also Oven-
bird.

Lowell, J. R., 235; On ery of screech-
owl, 201.

Lucretius Carus, T., 185, 235; Man
learned musical notes from birds,
122.

Lunt, H., 144, 157, 158, 166, 185, 188,
190, 235.

Luscinia philomela. See Nightingale.

Lyford, Prof. A. C., 235.

Lyre-bird (menura superba). Its pow-
ers of mimicry and ventriloquism,
210, ;

Maccitivray, W., 139, 140, 235;
Lark, 193.

INDEX.

Macmillan & Co., 241.

Macy, C., 235.

Mammoth cave, Music in, 129.

Mare. (See also Horse, colt.) Nota-
tions, 206.

Martin, W. C. L., 235.

Maryland yellow-throat. Notation, 49.

Mavis. See Thrush (harporhynchus
rufus).

Mayer, A. M., 152, 235, 241,

Maynard, C. J., 235.

Meadow lark. See Lark (sturneila
magna).

Melodies, poems, etc., (See also Bird-
songs. —Inanimate music. — Music
in nature. — Night-songs. — Nota-
tions.) Bobolink’s song in poetry,
192; Browning, R. Song thrush
(poem), 223; Larboard watch ahoy,
48, 117; Last rose of summer, 175;
Melody whistled while heating iron
(horseshoes), 189; Partant pour la
Syrie, 186; Rock of ages, 45, 118;
Seven sleepers (oratorio), 108, 119;
Spinning-girls’ song, 20; Titmouse
(poem), 27; Wood-pewee (poem by
Trowbridge), 65; Worship of Free-
willets (wood-pewee’s song), 64.

Melody, Structure of, 180; What is, 2.

Melospiza melodia. See Sparrow.

Menura superba. See Lyre-bird.

Merriam, C. H., 241.

Merriam, F. A., 235.

Meyer, A. B., and Helm, F., 236.

Mice, Vesper, music of, 126.

Michelet, J., 236.

Miller, O. T., 236, 242; Oriole, 169;
Robin, 169; Song-sparrow, 169;
Variations in bird-songs, 169.

Mimicry. (See also Imitation.) Cat-
bird, 159; Lyre-bird, 210.

Mimus Carolinensis. See Cat-bird.

Mimus Orpheus. See Mocking-bird.

Minius polyglottus, Boie. See Mock-
ing-bird.

Mimus triurus. See Mocking-bird.

Minor scale, Origin of, 135.

Minot, H. D., vi, 236, 242; Black-
throated green warbler, 157; Blue-

253

bird, 144; Bobolink, 193 ; Chestnut-
sided warbler, 157; Chickadee, 143;
Drumming of partridge, 197; Field-
sparrow, 385; Night-hawk, 167;
Nightingale, 181; Red-eyed vireo,
190; Redstart’s song, 158; Rose-
breasted grosbeak, 188; Skylark,
193; Song-sparrow, 146; White-
throated sparrow, 150; Wood-pewee,
144; Wood-thrush, 181; Yellow-
billed cuckoo, 194.

Mitford, (—), Cuckoo, 194.

Mivart, St. G., 140, 236.

Mock nightingale, Norfolk, 180.

Mocker, Brown. See Thrush (harpo-
rhynchus rufus).

Mocking-bird. (See also Brown thrush,
— Cat-bird, 52), 133.

. Mocking-bird (mimus Orpheus). Dar-

win, C., 181.

Mocking-bird (mimus polyglottus,
Boie). Hill, R., 178.

Mocking-bird, White-banded (mimus
triurus), 186; Hudson, W. H., 176.

Mocking-bird, Virginia, 178.

Montagu, Col. G., 236.

Morning song in Jamaica, 153.

Mottled owl. See Owl (scops asio).

Moult and fatness. Bicknell, E. P.
Effect of, on the singing of birds,
147.

Mouse-song. Vesper-mice, 126.

Miiller, J., 140, 236.

Miller, Karl, 151, 236.

Munger, C. A., 2386; Brown thrush,
159; Oriole, 169.

Murdoch, J. B., 236.

Music. (See also Bird-song. — Bird-
songs. — Inanimate music. — Melo-
dies. — Music in nature. — Nota-
tions. —Song-birds.— Songs.) Ef-
fect of, on snakes, 142; Henderson,
W. J. Nothing in nature that re-
sembles music, 116; Human, 130;
Pole, W. Structure of, 123; Uni-
versal effect of, 141.

Music, Animal, 130. (See also Bird-
songs. — Insect music. — Music in
nature. — Notations.)

254

Music in nature. (See also Bird-songs.
— Inanimate music.— Insect music.
— Notations.) 2, 4, 117, 126; Ant
music, 128; Ape (Gibbon), 129; Ass,
129; Carlyle, T., 129; Cricket, 128;
Fel, 126; Fish, 126; Frog, 127 ;
Haweis, Rev. H.R. Cuckoo's song
nearest approach to, 116; Horse, 129;
Peacock, 129; Sonorous sand, 129;
Speech, 129; Stones, 129; Vesper-
mice, 126; Waters of Niagara, 130,

Music-loving cows, 141.

Music of nature, Various notations of,
203.

Musical fishes. See Music in nature.

Musical insects. See Music in nature.

Musicapa armiliata, Viellot. See
Solitaire.

Nartorat history of birds (Harper &
Bros.), 142, 236.

Natural history of English song-birds,
181, 236.

Naturalist’s note-book, 230.

Nature (magazine), 126, 128, 176, 195,
236, 238, 239.
Nature, Music in.

ture.

Naumann, J. F., 236.

Nehrling, H., 165, 181, 236.

Nelson, E. W., 236; Bluebird and
robin, 145.

Nelson, H. L., 2387; Bird-songs at
Worcester, 158; Linnet, 149; Oven-
bird, 165; Redstart’s song resembles
yellow warbler’s, 158; Song of Her-
mit thrush, wood thrush, and veery,
164; Song of robin and tanager,
185; Song-sparrow, 146; Veery,
163 ; Wood thrush, 161; Yellow
warbler, 156.

New England magazine, 159, 162, 163,
237.

New Monthly magazine, 135, 141,
236, 237.

New South Wales, Bird-songs in, 209.

Newness of the field, 1, 113, 120.

Niagara, Music of, 130.

See Music in na-

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Nicols, A., 175, 237.

Night-hawk (chordeiles Virginianus),
66; And whippoorwill, 67; Boom-
ing of, 196; Minot, H. D., 167;
Samuels, E. A., 167; Wilson, Dr.
A., 66.

Night-jars, 153.

Night-songs, 159; Chaffinch, 160;
Chiff-chaff, 160; Cuckoo, 160; Gol-
den oriole, 160; Gray wag-tail, 160;
Mocking-bird of Jamaica, 160;
Nightingale, 160; Reed-wren, 160;
Ring-ousel, 160; Robin, 160; Sam-
uels, E. A. Brown thrush, 159;
Thrush, 160; Water-ousel, 160;
White - throat, 160; Willow - wren,
160; Wood-lark, 160; Wren, 160.

Nightingale, 160, 180; And his rivals,
179; Barrington, D., 174; Compass
of, 181; Cowper, W. Ode to (Song
thrush ?), 181; Minot, H. D., 181;
Notations of: Gardiner, W., 211,
Kircher, A., 218, Lescuyer, F., 220,
Nuttall, T., 165; Song of blue
thrush mistaken for song of, 181;
Walton, I., 182.

Nightingale, American.
(turdus fuscescens).

Nightingale, Gray (luscinia philo-
mela), 115; Golz, Dr. Song can-
not be copied, 115.

Nightingale, Norfolk mock, 180.

Norfolk mock nightingale, 180.

North British review (magazine), 176,
230.

Notations. Accentor, Golden-crowned,
68; Ass, 213; Beckler, D. H. (names
of birds not given), 208; Bird (name
unknown) 148; Blackbird, 211, 217,
222; Blackcap, 215; Bluebird, 11;
Bob White, 90; Bobolink, 83; Bull,
120, 206: Bull-frogs, 206; Bumble-
bee, 226; Cat, 225; Cat-bird, 52;
Chat, Yellow - breasted, 80; Che-
wink, 45, 118, 156; Chickadee, 27,
128, 142; Clothes-rack, 4; Cock,
212, 225; Cock (a passage in ora-
torio of the Seven sleepers), 119;
Cock chaffer, 226; Colt, 120, 205;

See Thrush

INDEX.

Cow, 206, 224; Cricket, 226; Crow,
205; Cuckoo, 135, 194, 195, 218, 217;
Cuckoo, Black-billed, 87; Cuckoo,
Yellow-billed, 89; Death-watch, 226;
Diver, Great northern, 97, 117; Dog,
206, 212; Dog (barking), 224; Don-
key, 224; Duck, Wild, 136; Finch,
Purple, 37; Flicker, 30; Fowls, 212;
From the author’s diary, 205; From
the phonograph, 172; Gnat, 226;
Grasshopper, 226; Grosbeak, Pur-
ple, 37; Grosbeak, Rose-breasted,
76; Grouse, Ruffed, 94; Hen, 211;
Hen (after laying), 217; Hen music,
104; Horse, 212, 225; Horse (colt),
120, 205; Horse (mare), 119, 206;
House-fly, 226; Indigo-bird, 85;
Instrument for taking pitch of bird-
songs, 191; ‘‘ Larboard watch ahoy”’
and song of black-throated green
warbler, 117; Lark, 213; Lark,
Field, 221; Lark, Meadow, 33, 118,
124; Leather-head (No. 12), 210;
Linnet, 37; Loon, 97, 117; Mare,
119, 206; Niagara, Waters of, 130;
Nightingale, 211, 218, 220; Nut-
hatch, White-bellied, 29; Oriole,
169; Oriole, Baltimore, 71; Oven-
bird, 63; Owl, Great horned, 99;
Owl, Mottled, 100; Owl, Screech,
100; Ox, 212; Partridge, 94; Pewee,
17; Pheasant, 94; Quail, 90; Red-
start, 51; Robin, 14; Robin, Ground,
45,118; ‘Rock of ages” (melody)
and song of chewink, 118; Rooster,
107, 119, 205; Soldier (No. 12),
210; Solitaire, 214; Sparrow, Chip-
ping, 40; Sparrow, Field, 36; Spar-
row, Fox-colored, 44; Sparrow,
Gambel’s white-crowned, 153; Spar-
row, Golden-crowned, 153; Spar-
row, Song, 23, by W. Flagg and
the author, 125; Sparrow, White-
throated, 42, 150, 151, 152; Spin-
ning girls’ song compared with
robin’s song, 20; Swan, 216; Tana-
ger, Scarlet, 74, 185; Thrasher,
Brown, 54; Throstle, 211, 220;
Thrush, 220; Thrush (Wood ?),

S

255

165; Thrush, Big-tree, 162; Thrush,
Brown, 54; Thrush, Hermit, 60,
124; Thrush, Song, 56, 222; Thrush,
Tawny, 58; Thrush, Wilson’s, 58,
164; Thrush, Wood, 56, 124, 161,
162; Titmouse, 117; Towhee bunt-
ing, 45, 118; Various notations of
music of nature, 203; Veery, 58;
Vireo, Red-eyed, 78; Waltz and
bird-song compared, 135; Warbler,
Black-throated green, 48, 117; War-
bler, Chestnut-sided, 49; Warbler,
Maryland yellow-throat, 49; War-
bler, Willow, 215; Warbler, Yellow,
47; Warblers, American (sylvico-
lide), 49; Water dropping from a
faucet, 3; Whippoorwill, 68; Wilson
thrush, 58, 164; Wind, 224; Wind
(wailing), 224; Wood-pewee, 64,
118, 148; Woodpecker, Golden:
winged, 30; Yellow-bird, 39.

Notes and queries (magazine), 237.

Nuthatch, White-bellied (sitta Caroli-
nensis), 29, 147.

Nuttall, T., 237; Black-throated green
warbler, 158; Bluebird, 145; Drum-
ming of partridge, 197, 198; Her-
mit thrush, 165; Nightingale, 165;
Oven-bird, 167; Red-eyed vireb,
190; Redstart’s song, 158; Rose-
breasted grosbeak, 188; Song-spar-
row, 147; Wood-pewee, 144; Wood
thrush, 162, 163, 165; Yellow-
breasted chat, 191.

Nuttall Ornithological Club, 287.

Nutting, C. C., 187, 237.

O’Ketty, Col,
187.

Oppel, Prof., 287.

Oregon, Soc. for Introd. of Useful
Singing-birds into, 182.

Oreoica, Ventriloquism among the,
210.

Organ -bird (cyphorhinus cantans),
Bates, H. W., 186.

Organist (pipra musica, Gmel.). Buf-
fon, G. L. L., comte de. Bishop

His famous parrot,

256

game as, 186; Gosse, P.H. Buffon’s
erganist not same as solitaire, 187;
Hill, R. Buffon’s organist same as
solitaire, 187.

Organs of song, 140.

Oriole, 168; Allen, J. A., 168; Differ-
ence between song of old and young,
26; Ingersoll, E. Song of female,
169; Miller, O. T., 169; Munger,
C. A., 169; Notation, 169; Song of
eriole at burial of author, 170.

Oriole, Baltimore (icterus Baltimore),
71; Allen, J. A., 168,

Oriole, Golden, 160,

Ornithologist and odlogist (maga-
zine), 237.

Orityx Virginianus. See Quail.

Ou-thee-quan-nor-ow. See Woodpeck-
er (colaptes wuratus).

Oven-bird (seiurus awrocapillus), 62;
Allen, G., 167; Audubon, J. J., 166.
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 167;
Bicknell, E. P., 166; Coues, Dr. E.,
62; Nelson, H. L., 165; Notation,

- 63; Nuttall, T., 167; Richardson,
(—), 167; Wilson, Dr. A., 62, 166.

Overland monthly (magazine), 231.

Owen, Str R., 237.

Owl, Great horned (bubo Virginianus),
98, 200; Notation, 99; White, Rev.
G., 99.

Owl, Mottled (scops asio). Lowell,
J. R., Screech-owl, 201; Notations,
100; Wilson, Dr. A., 102.

Ox. Gardiner, W., Notation, 215.

Paumer, T. S., 242.

Paolluci, Prof. L., 287. 5
Parrot, 187.
Partridge. See Grouse (bonase um-

bellus).
Parus atricapillus. See Chickadee.
Passerella iliaca. See Sparrow.
Peacock, Music of, 129.
Peadove, 153.
Peal, 8. E., 126, 128, 287.
Petchary, 153.
Pewee. Notation, 17.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

Pfluger, C. F., 182, 242.

Pheasant. See Grouse (bonasa um-
bellus).

Phonograph, Notations from the, 172.

Pigritia. Kircher, A. Notation, 217.

Pipilo erythrophthalmus. See Che-
wink.
Pipra musica, Gmel. See Organist.
Pitch in bird music, 181; Instrument
for taking pitch of bird-songs, 191.
Piut. See Woodpecker (colaptes au-
ratus).

Placzek, Dr. B., 287; Why birds
sing, 139.

Plinius Secundus, C., vi, 182, 287.

Pliny. See Plinius Secundus, C.

Plumage vs. song, 185. See note, 210.

Pole, W., 130, 237; Bird-songs not to
be called “ either music or melody,”
123.

Pollard, J., 237.

Pontecoulant, A., marquis de, 142,
237.

Poole, Dr. W. F., 238.

Popular science monthly, 126, 230,
236.

Poultry. See Fow] language.—Fowls.
— Hen. — Rooster.

Putnam’s monthly (magazine), 137.

Pyranga rubra. See Tanager.

QuAIL (ortyx Virginianus).
tion, 90.

Quail and whippoorwill. Flagg, W.,
1

Nota-

R., M. H., 238; Natural bird-songs
never capable of notation, 114.

Rainey, H. J., 238,

Realejho. See Organ-bird.

Red-eyed vireo. See Vireo.

Redpole, 180.

Redstart (setophaga ruticilla), Minot,
H.D. Variations in song of, 158;
Notation, 51; Nuttall, T., 158; Song
resembles yellow warbler’s, 158.

Reed-sparrow, 180.

INDEX.

Rhoads, S. N., 135, 238.

Rhythm. Bull-frogs, 207; In bird-
song, 131, 154, 208; Sully, J., 181.

Richardson, (—). Oven-bird, 167.

Ridgway, R., 238, 242; Drumming of
partridge, 199 ; Scarlet tanager, 185.

Ring-ousel, 160.

Robin (turdus migratorius), 139. (See
also Cat-bird, 52); Burlesque per-
formance of, 16; Imitation, 174;
Miller, O. T., 169; Nelson, E. W.,
145; Song of tanager and, 185; No-
tations, 14; Samuels, E. A. Song
of tanager and, 185; Signal for
flight, 20; Song, 13; Song of a
caged, 174; Spinning girls’ song
compared with robin’s song, 20;
Variety of melodies, 18.

Robin, English, 160, 174, 175, 180.

Robin, Ground. See Chewink (pipilo
erythrophthalmus).

Robins in Australia, 210.

“Rock of ages’ and song of chewink,
45, 118.

Romanes, G. J., 142, 238.

Rooster. (See also Fowl language. —
Hen music.) Notations 119, 205,
Gardiner, W., 212, Weber, Dr. F.,
225. ‘

Rose-breasted grosbeak. See Gros-
beak (goniaphea Ludoviciana).

Rossignol. Notations, 220.

Royal Society of London. Philos.
trans., 129, 238.

Rudolph, Alex. J., 241.

Ruffed grouse. See Grouse (bonasa
umbellus).

Russ, Dr. K., of Berlin, viii, 242.

Saint Francis p’ Assist, Legend of,
170.

Saint Theresa, Prayer to. Green
warbler. —-White-throated sparrow,
150.

Samuels, E. A., 240, 242; Brown
thrush, 159; Black-throated green
warbler, 157; Drumming of par-
tridge, 197; Hermit thrush, 164;

7

257

Night-hawk, 167; Red-eyed vireo,
190; Rose-breasted grosbeak, 188;
Ruffed grouse, 197; Song of robin
and tanager, 185; Wood thrush,
164.

Sand, Sonorous, 129.

Saunders, W. E., 238.

Savart, (—), 288.

Saxby, H. L., 238.

Scale, minor, Origin of, 185.

Scarlet tanager. See Tanager (py-
ranga rubra).

Schele de Vere, M. R. B., 128, 142,
238.

Scops asio. See Owl.

Screech-owl. See Owl (scops asio).

Scudder, S. H., 128, 238.

Seebohm, H., 238.

Seiurus awrocapillus. See Oven-bird.

Setophaga ruticilla. See Redstart.

Seven sleepers (oratorio), Cock crows
passage in, 119.

Sexual selection. Sully, J. Improves
voice of birds, 138.

Shakespeare, 141.

Sharpe, R. B., 238.

Sialia sialis, See Bluebird.

Sidebotham, J.,-238.

Signs from birds, 171.

Singing and dancing, 136.

Siskin, 180.

Sitta Carolinensis. See Nuthatch.

Skelding, S. B., 238.

Skylark, 180; Minot, H. D., 193.

Slater, H. H., 238.

Sloth. Kircher, A. Notation, 217.

Smee, A., 238; Blackbird, 228, nota-
tions, 222; Difficulty of recording
notes of song-birds, 223; Song
thrush, 223, notations, 222.

Smee, F., 223.

Smithsonian Institution, 238.

Snakes, Effect of music on, 142.

Soldier. Notation (No. 12), 210.

Solitaire (musicapa armillata, Viellot),
154, 187; Gosse, P. H. Buffon’s
organist not same as, 187; Hill, R.,
187, Buffon’s organist same as, 187;
Johnston, A.G. Notations, 214.

258

Song, Organs of, 140.
Song-birds.
Bird-songs. — Birds. — Borrowing
from birds.— Music.— Night-songs.
—Notations.— Songs.) Australian
singers, 209; Barrington, D. On
notation of music of, 121; Table of
comparative merit of British, 180;
New South Wales, 209; Smee, A.

Difficulty of recording notes of, 223; ,

Soc. for Introd. of Useful Singing-
birds into Oregon, 182; Song of
birds is innate, 175; Thompson, M.
Duty of protecting, 136.

Song guild, Emblem of the, 129.

Song-sparrow. See Sparrow (melo-
spiza melodia).

Song-thrush. See Thrush (turdus
mustelinus).

Songs (See also Bird-song. — Bird-
songs. —Inanimate music. — Melo-
dies. —Music in nature. — Night-
songs. — Notations. — Song-birds),

Songs, Variations in. See Bird-song.

Sparrow, Chipping (spizella socialis).
Coues, Dr. E., 40; Notation, 40.

Sparrow, Field (spizella pusilla), 26,
85; Coues, Dr. E., 35; Extemporiz-
ing, 148; Minot, H. D., 35; Nota-
tion, 36; Torrey, B., 149; Wilson,
Dr. A., 35.

Sparrow, Fox-colored (passerella
iliaca), 155; Baird, Brewer, and
Ridgway, 155; Burroughs, J., 155;
Notation, 44; Torrey, B., 155.

Sparrow, Gambel’s white - crowned.
Notation, 153.

Sparrow, Golden-crowned. Notation,
153.

Sparrow, Hedge, 180.

Sparrow, Reed, 180.

Sparrow, Song (melospiza melodia).
Bicknell, E. P., 147; Miller, O. T.,
169; Minot, H. D., 146; Nelson,
H. L., 146; Notations, 23, By W.
Flagg and the author, 125; Nuttall,
T., 147; Stearns, A. W., 147; Tor-

_ rey, B., 1465 Trill of, 23.

Sparrow, White-throated (zonotrichia

(See also Bird-song.— |.

WOOD NOTES WILD.

albicollis). Baird, Brewer, and Ridg-
way, 149; Keeler, C. A., 153; Leach,
M. L., 151; Minot, H. D., 150;
Notations, 42, 150,151,152; Rhythm,
154; Song, 8; Song interpreted as
prayer to Saint Theresa, 150; Song
shortens as the season advances,
48; Variation in song of, 160.

Spectator, The (magazine), 176.

Speech, Music in, 129.

Spencer, H., 140, 238.

Spinning girls’ song compared with
Tobin’s song, 20.

Spizella pusilla. See Sparrow.

Spizella socialis. See Sparrow.

Starling, 183.

Stearns, R. C., 142, 238.

Stearns, W. A., vi, 238; Cat-bird, 159;
Red-eyed vireo, 190; Song-sparrow,
147; Wood-pewee, 144.

Stein, F., 239.

Sterne, C., 128, 239.

Stewart, J. V. Willow-warbler (nota-
tion quoted by J. E. Harting), 215.

Stones, Musical, 129.

Storer, D. H., and Peabody, W. B. O.,
239.

Stuhr, (—) (bird-dealer), Portland,
184. :

Sturnella magna. See Lark.

Sturt, Capt. C., 151, 239.

Sully, J., 239, 242; Intervals in bird-
song, 132; Rhythm in bird-song,
181; Sexual selection improves bird-
song, 188; Structure of melody, 132;
Tonality in bird-song, 132.

Swan. Arnaud, Abbé. Voice of, 216;
Bertini;A. Notation, 216; Hawker,
Col., 216.

Swiss cross, The (magazine), 239.

Sylvicolide, See American warblers.

TABLE of comparative merit of British
singing-birds, 180.

Tanager. Difference between song of
old and young, 26; Song of robin
and, Nelson, H. L., 185, Samuels,
E. A., 185.

INDEX.

Tanager, Scarlet (pyranga rubra).
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 185;
Coleman, A. P., 185; Notations, 74,
185; Ridgway, R., 185; Wilson, Dr.
A., 185.

Tawny thrush. See Thrush (turdus
Suscescens).

Taylor, Charlotte, 141, 239.

Taylor, H. R., 239.

Taylor, J. E., 239 ; Imitation in sing-
ing birds: sedge warbler, American
mocking-bird, 176.

Taylor, R., 239.

Tennent, Sir J. E., 126, 289.

Thaxter, C. Loon, 200.

Thayer, E. M., 129, 239.

Theuriet, A., 239.

Thomae, F., of Tiibingen, viii, 242.

Thompson, M., 140, 289, 242; Duty of
protecting song-birds, 1386; Genesis
of bird-song, 136; Rhythmic beat in
bird-songs, 154.

Thomson, J. S., 289.

Thoreau, H. D., 239.

Thrasher, Brown. See Thrush (harpo-
rhynchus rufus).

Throstle. See Thrush.

Thrush, 160, 176, 180; Gardiner, W.
Notation of throstle’s song, 211;
Jesse, E., 173; Lescuyer, F. Nota-
tions of song of grive chanteuse
(throstle), 220.

Thrush, Big-tree. Belding, L., 162;
Notation, 162; Songs of wood thrush
and, 162.

Thrush, Blue, 181; Song often mis-
taken for nightingale’s, 181.

Thrush, Brown (harporhynchus rufus).
(See also Cat-bird, 52); Munger, C.
A., 159; Notations, 54; Samuels, E.
A. Sometimes called brown mocker,
159; Torrey, B., 159.

Thrush, Hermit (turdus pallasi), 59;
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 165;
Burroughs, J., 164; Coues, Dr. E.,
59; Flagg, W., 59; Giraud, J. P.,
Jr., 165; Greatest singer of New
England, 59; Notations, 60, 124;
Nuttall, T., 165; Samuels, E. A.,

259

164; Song like opening of a grand
overture, 60; Song of hermit thrush,
wood thrush, and veery, 164; Wil-
son, Dr. A., 59.

Thrush, Hopping-dick, 153.

Thrush, Louisiana. .The oven-bird:
its equal as a singer, 62.

Thrush, Song (turdus musicus), 192;
Browning, R., 223; Notations (tur-
dus mustelinus), 56; Smee, A., Nota-
tions (turdus musicus), 222; Song
thrush (turdus musicus), 223.

Thrush, Tawny (turdus fuscescens).
Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway, 163;
Nelson, H. L. Veery, 163, 164;
Notation (veery), 58.

Thrush, Wilson’s. See Thrush (tur-
dus fuscescens).

Thrush, Wood (turdus mustelinus),
160; Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway,
162, 165; Burroughs, J., 164;
Minot, H. D. Compares it with
nightingale, 181; Nelson, H. L.,

, 161, 164; Notations, 56, 124, 161,
162 (wood thrush, 165); Nuttall, T.,
162, 163, 165; Songs of big-tree
thrush and, 162.

Time in bird music, 131.

Titlark, 180,

Titmouse, Black-capped. See Chick-
adee (parus atricapillus), 27, 117.

Tonality or key in bird music, 131.

Torrey, B., 239, 242; Bird music, 138;
Brown thrush, 159 ; Chewink extem-
porizes, 155; Drumming of the
partridge, 199; Field-sparrow, 149;
Fox-colored sparrow, 155; Song-
sparrow, 146.

Towhee. Allen, J. A., 168.

Towhee bunting. See Chewink (pipilo
erythrophthalmus).

Treatise on British song-birds, 231, 239.

Tremolo in song of meadow-lark, 7.

Trill, Song-sparrow’s, 23.

Trowbridge, J. T., Wood-pewee, 65.

Tucker, Old Dan, Borrowed from the

hen, 108. :
Tune, Birds sing out of, 152.
Turdus fuscescens. See Thrush.

260

Turdus merula. See Blackbird.
Turdus migratorius. See Robin.
Turdus musicus. See Thrush.
Turdus mustelinus. See Thrush.
Turdus pallasi. See Thrush.

U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 239,
U. S. National Museum, 240.
Orania sloaneus (Butterfly), 160.

VaRIATIONS in bird-song, 168, 173.
(See also Bird-song.) Allen, J. A.,
168; Belding, L., 163; Jesse, E.,
178; Miller, O. T., 169; Minot, H.
D. Redstart, 158; Song of young
and old birds, 25, 26; Song of same
birds, 8.

Veery. See Thrush (turdus fusces-
cens).

Ventriloquism. Atrichias, 210; Ex-
plained, 151; Lyre-bird, 210; Ore-
oica, 210.

Ventriloquist dove( geopelia tranquilla,
Gould), 151.

Vesper-mice, Music of, 126.

Viardot, L., 142, 240.

Vickary, N Great northern diver, 97.

Vireo olivaceus. See Vireo.

Vireo, Red-eyed (vireo olivaceus),
189. (See also Cat-bird, 52.) Minot,
H. D., 190; Notation, 78; Nuttall,
T., 190; Samuels, E. A., 190;
Stearns, W. A., 190.

Voice. Sully J. Sexual selection
improves, 138.

W., J. M., 240.

Wake-up. See Wood-pecker (colaptes
auratus).

Walker, R. C., 242.

Wallace, A. R., 137, 140, 240.

Walton, I., 240 ; Nightingale, 182.

Warbler, Black-throated green (den-
droica virens), 8; Minot, H. D.,
157; Notations, 48, 117; Nuttall,
T., 158; Samuels, E. A., 157; Simi-

WOOD NOTES WILD.

larity between its song and ‘‘ Lar-
board watch,”’ 48 ; Song interpreted
as prayer to Saint Theresa, 150.

Warbler, Chestnut-sided (dendroica
Pennsylvanica). Burroughs, J., 157;
Minot, H. D., 157; Notation, 49. .

Warbler, Maryland yellow-throat.
Notation, 49.

Warbler, Sedge. Taylor, J. E., 176.

Warbler, Willow. Harting, J. E.
Notation, 215.

Warbler, Yellow (dendroica estiva).
Notation, 47; Nelson, H. L., 156;
Song resembles redstart’s; 158; Vo-
cal power of, 156.

Warblers, American (sylvicolide). No-
tations, 49.

Warren, Uncle (pseud.), 240.

Water dropping from a faucet. Nota-
tion, 8.

Water-ousel, 160.

Waterton, C., 240; Bell-bird, 196.

Watt, R., 240.

Weber, Dr. F., 129, 180, 133, 240, 242;
Notations: — Cat, 225, Cock, 225,
Cow, 224, Dog (barking), 224, Don-
key, 224, Horse, 225, Wind, 224,
Wind (wailing), 224. \

West shore (newspaper), Portland,
Or., 184,237. |

Wheelwright, H. W., 127, 240.

Whippoorwill (Antrostomus vociferus),
167; Flagg, W. Quail and, 168;
Night-hawk and, 67; Notations, 68;
Wilson, Dr. A., 69.

| Whistling of birds, 133.

White, Rev. G., 126, 240; Great
horned owl, 99.

White-banded mockingbird. See
Mocking-bird.

White-bellied Nuthatch.
hatch (sitta Carolinensis).

White-throat, 160.

White-throated sparrow. See Sparrow
(zonotrichia albicollis).

Why birds sing, 139.

Wienland, D. F., 240.

Wilkinson, A. G. White-throated
sparrow, 152. .

See Nut-

INDEX. ’

Willow-wren, 160.

Willy, T. P., 240.

Wilson, Dr. A., vi, vii, 128, 148, 240;
Bobolink, 193; Chewink, 45; Drum-
ing of the ruffed grouse (partridge),
94, 197, 198; Field-sparrow, 35;
Golden-winged woodpecker, 31;
Great northern diver, 95; Hermit
thrush, 59; Meadow lark, 33; Most
charming of writers on birds, 114;
Mottled owl, 102; Night-hawk, 66;
Oven-bird, 62, 166; Scarlet tanager,
185; Tawny thrush, 58; Whippoor-
will, 69.

Wilson’s thrush. Notations, 58, 164.

Wind. Weber, Dr. F. Notations,
224,

Wood, Rev. J. G., 240; Energy ex-
pended in bird-song, 190; Lark, 190.

Woodpecker, Golden-winged (colaptes
auratus). Notations, 380; Song of
cuckoo and, 30; Wilson, Dr. A.,
31.

Wood-pewee (contopus virens), 8; Bur-
troughs, J., 143; Coues, Dr. E.,
143; Notations, 64, 118, 148; Nut-
tall, T., 144; Stearns, W. A., 144;
Wilson, Dr. A., 148.

Wood thrush. See Thrush (turdus
mustelinus).

261

Woodwall. See Golden-winged wood-
pecker.

World of wonders, 240.

Wren, 160, 180.

YaRRELL, W., 126, 140, 176, 240.

Yarrup. See Woodpecker (colaptes
auratus).

Yellow-billed cuckoo. See Cuckoo
( Coccygus Americanus). .

Yellow-bird (chrysomitris tristis), 180.
(See also Goldfinch.) Love-song of
goldfinch, 157; Notations, 39; Vocal
power of goldfinch, 156.

Yellow-breasted chat. See Chat (icte-
ria viridis).

Yellow hammer. See Woodpecker
(colaptes awratus).

Yellow warbler. See Warbler (den-
droica estiva).

Youmans, W. J., 242.

Young, R., 240.

Yucker. See Woodpecker (colaptes
auratus).

ZOE (magazine), 240.
Zonotrichia albicollis. See Sparrow.
Zodlogist, The (magazine), 240.

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