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SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by A. A. ALLEN. Ph.D. 



Address all communications relative to the work of this 

 department to the Editor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



LEARNING BIRD SONGS 



I am sitting in a New York City railroad station trying to assemble my 

 thoughts on the songs of birds. All about me is the murmur of strange voices, 

 interrupted occasionally by the 'klaxon' of a passing motor car or the stentorian 

 calls of an attendant announcing a train. There are hundreds of voices, all 

 strange to me, and they mingle in one great hubbub from which I can derive 

 neither pleasure nor interest. Still, voices are interesting to me, and I enjoy 

 listening to people talking. 



I am thinking now how different it would be if I could recognize a few of the 

 voices about me as those of friends, how much more enjoyable and how much 

 more profitable would be my wait for the train. It brings to my mind my 

 first experiences in the woods, when all of the wood-folk were strangers to me, 

 when I scarcely knew the call of the cicada from that of the tree-toad, and 

 when all birds seemed to call and sing alike. There was a hubbub in the woods 

 in those days; the morning chorus of songsters was a disturbing noise; my 

 ears brought me little pleasure. 



Now I think over how, one by one, I learned the different calls of the wild 

 folk until the hubbub changed to music, and the morning chorus, instead of 

 being a disturbance, became a joy to be looked forward to and long remem- 

 bered. As I sit in this lonely station full of people, I know how I would feel 

 if I should suddenly hear the voice of a friend talking near me, and I realize 

 that it would be the feeling that came to me when I first recognized the bell- 

 like notes of the Wood Thrush rising above the clamor of the lesser folk. It is 

 the feeling that still comes to me when I listen to the chorus of voices on a 

 May morning and pick out one friend after another as he announces his 

 presence, his 'Good Morning,' if you will, to all his brothers and to me. For 

 now my ears bring to me even as much pleasure as my eyes, and I am sorry 

 for those who do not hear. 



Many persons have come to me with the query as to how they can learn 

 the songs of birds, or how I learned them, until I am forced to try to arrange 

 my thoughts and experiences into these few paragraphs, hoping that they may 

 stimulate others to enter a field that is as elusive as it is enjoyable, as intangible 

 as it is profitable. 



The greatest difficulty in discussing the subject of bird-song is in the short- 

 comings of the English language, for words fail to convey the impressions 



(177) 



