184 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW [11:4— Apr., 1915 



songs. Only a very few of these, as, for example, the two shown 

 in notation No. i, were the common property of different birds; 

 and as these common phrases were always used in different com- 

 binations by their different possessors it may be safely asserted 

 that no two wood thrushes have identical songs. Here, then, is 

 offered by this one species enough of melody to yield one transcriber 

 occupation for life. I do not advise such specialization. It is too 

 much like that of the German professor of classical languages who 

 said to his family gathered about his deathbed : 



"Children, I have devoted all my life to the study of the Greek 

 noun Xpw[jux and I feel that I have wasted my time: — I should 

 have confined my attention to the dative case." 



I do not believe the story (though I have seen a German-made 

 microscopic slide which, under the powerful magnifier, showed a 

 perfectly reproduced and properly colored bouquet of flowers 

 manufactured of the differently colored scales of butterflies!) 

 but it serves a good illustrative purpose. Neither do I recommend 

 making the collecting of bird songs the principal business of life, 

 for the same reason, the undue narrowing of the field of mental 

 energy. It should be undertaken as a recreation, a hobby, a pur- 

 suit for leisure moments, an incentive for exercise in the open. 

 Followed in this way it becomes a healthful and extremely enjoy- 

 able avocation, an interesting adjunct to the life pursuit, whatever 

 this may be. 



Song sparrow phrases are even more diverse than those of wood 

 thrushes. A single song sparrow may have a dozen or more in his 

 repertoire; and as song sparrows outnumber wood thrushes easily 

 ten to one and one rarely hears the same phrase sung by any two 

 song sparrows, it would require fifteen or twenty nimble transcrib- 

 ers of song sparrow music to keep pace with one wood thrush 

 reporter. Many song sparrow songs are, however, not transcrib- 

 able; for this cheery little musician of the fields has taken a leaf 

 out of the book of some of the modern French and Russian com- 

 posers and produces music that violates all known rules of melody 

 and harmony. Nay, he out-Herods Herod and often makes use of 

 intervals other than those that go to make up our diatonic and 

 chromatic scales (though it must be said that judging from the 

 rapid progress of his human competitors he will not out-Herod 

 Herod long) . But song sparrows are very diverse in their musical 

 accomplishments and many there are of saner character than 



