Andersen. — New Zealand Bird-song. 519 



Art. L.- — Neiv Zealand Bird-song : Farther Notes. 

 By Johannes C. Andersen. 



[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 25th October, 1916 ; received by 

 Editors, 30th December, 1916; issued separately 10th December, 1917.] 



It has often been questioned whether any similarity exists between the 

 song of birds and the song of human beings : whether birds modulate their 

 voice in intervals agreeing with those that build up the scale of the octave. 

 That it is possible for them to do so is evident, since they are able to slur 

 from one note into another, through the full octave, in the same way that 

 the human voice is able to do. Yet most writers, if they theorize at all 

 upon the subject of bird-song, contend that birds do not sing with regular 

 or constant intervals, and " would not deign to be fettered with a scale."* 

 Writers are, however, inconsistent among themselves. It is commonly 

 admitted that the cuckoo sings a minor third at the commencement of 

 the season, increasing the interval regularly through a major third, a fourth, 

 and a fifth, as the season advances ; and so constant and well known is 

 the common cry of the bird that it is reproduced mechanically in whistles 

 and clocks. Witchellf states that the calls of the redstart, nightingale, 

 chiff-chaff, willow-warbler, and white-throat are in upward fifths ; and 

 he has, further, recorded { the singing by starlings of a phrase consisting of 

 three fifths of different pitch. The rise of a fifth appears to be a natural 

 one, for the tendency of the human voice to rise a fifth has often been 

 noted. § It is admitted|| that occasionally the notes do agree with our 

 notes, and the intervals with our intervals ; and a reluctant admission 

 seems to be made that birds may occasionally, and as it were accidentally, 

 stumble on the same scale of somids that th.e professional musician uses. 



But a little reflection must compel something more than a reluctant 

 admission. Fowler, himself a musician, maintains^ that birds do not dwell 

 definitely on any note, but modify it by slightly raising or lowering the 

 pitch, and sliding insensibly into another note, forsaking that for a subdued 

 chuckle or trill, descending or ascending through fractions of a tone. Surely 

 the most casual listener knows that birds do dwell on single notes, and 

 repeat single notes of different pitch clearly and in succession. And in 

 human singing, is it not the finished singer who, besides singing single notes 

 of even pitch clear and true, also blends notes in slurs and trills, until we say 

 she sings " like a bird " — implying a decided compliment ? When a singer 

 is out of tune, there is a failure to pay due regard to exact intervals : how 

 often is a bird heard singing out of tune, despite its raising and lowering 

 of pitch, its chuckles and its trills, and its sliding insensibly from one note 

 into another ? Moreover, standards of taste in human song differ : to 

 most European ears the song of the Maori is monotonous and unmusical 



* W. W. Fowler, A Year with the Birds, ed. 3. 1889, p. 149. 



t C. A. Witchell, The Evolution of Bird-song, 1896, pp. 113, 116. 



X Witchell, loc. cit., pp. 83, 84. 



§ Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1911, vol. 25, under " Song." col. 2. 



II Witchell, loc. cit., pp. 231, 232; Fowler, loc. cit., pp. 257, 258. 



"[[ Fowler, loc. cit., pp. 257, 258. 



