BIRD NOTES. 



F SCHUYLER MATHEWS 

 says, in an article in Popular 

 , Scieiice, that the bird not only 

 possesses an ear for music but 

 the mind to produce it. As our own con- 

 ventional conception of music does not 

 at all correspond with the wild bird's 

 song, we are apt to consider the latter as 

 foreign toart. If, however, wechooseto 

 consider the bird's conception of music 

 a lawless one, we must show that he 

 ignores all fundamental principles. 

 This it is impossible to do, for he in- 

 variably resolves his effort to a per- 

 fectly intelligible, logical, musical idea. 

 His music is, therefore, an art at least 

 in part. 



"There are," Mr. Mathews continues, 

 "three woodland singers who will per- 

 fectly illustrate my idea of the under- 

 lying principle of bird-music. These 

 are the chickadee, the white-throated 

 sparrow, and the hermit-thrush. The 

 chickadee sings, or I may say,-calls his 

 mate, with a perfect musical third, or 

 with two notes separated by a com- 

 plete musical interval. One bird may 

 sing the third; another may answer in 

 two descending notes. The remarkable 

 thing about this simple example of 

 melody is that the intervals between 

 the notes are correctly measured. The 

 result of his effort is a combination of 

 tones in perfect accord with a law of 

 music, and we are bound to accept it 

 as an example of melody. 



"The chickadee, too, it should be re- 

 membered, is not a high type of bird; 

 there are many steps of progression 

 between him and his more gifted cous- 

 ins, the thrushes, who are, indeed, mu- 

 sicians of a high order. But, just here 

 I might as well call attention to the 

 fact that . bird-music should not be 

 overestimated. Its character is frag- 

 mentary, and its unconventionality is 

 obvious. The wild songs of the woods 

 and fields are not musical compositions; 

 they are at best but detached bits of 

 melody imperfectly conceived, although 

 often replete with the suggestions of a 

 complete musical idea. 



"For instance, the white-throated 

 sparrow or Peabody bird sings a perfect 

 musical phrase which we may harmo- 

 nize as we please, because it certainly 

 suggests harmony. This is absolutely 

 no more than the bird sings. The mu- 

 sical intervals, the pitch, and the lengths 

 of the notes are all correctly sustained. 

 In other words the bird suggests a com- 

 plete musical idea. But the little Pea- 

 body bird seldom attempts a more dif- 

 ficult or elaborate task. He knows his 

 limitations, and keeping within these, 

 his attempts are musically both con- 

 sistent and perfect. But let us turn 

 our attention to the more gifted song- 

 ster of the northern woods, the hermit 

 thrush. His capacity for simple mel- 

 ody, his technical mastery of tone in- 

 tervals and note values, his phrasing 

 and his brilliancy as a performer, are 

 certainly not exceeded by any vocalist 

 of nature. 



"But we must again studiously heed 

 the limitations of the bird's idea of mu- 

 sic. We are still in the presence of 

 the untamed singer, who is amenable 

 only to his own elastic laws. The her- 

 mit thrush starts his song with a pro- 

 longed keynote (often it is A) and then 

 springs upwards in thirds and fifths 

 with such rapidity and ease that we are 

 amazed at the accuracy of the perform- 

 ance. Not only are the tones correctly 

 given, but they are embellished with 

 subsidiary or tributary tones. 



"The last note, C.toofaint to be heard 

 at any distance, is rendered in a gyrat- 

 ing, suppressed way, impossible to de- 

 scribe, but comparable to the soft tones 

 of a harmonicon. This note is an ex- 

 cellent example of bird lawlessness re- 

 garding music. It is quite antipodal 

 in character to the initial note (A) with 

 which the bird slowly begins, as if de- 

 sirous to found upon it a solid musical 

 phrase; but he fails most utterly at the 

 last and subsides into an exquisite, 

 elusive, compound tone — I do not know 

 what else to call it — which he rounds 

 off in a plaintive pianissimo. He is 

 not satisfied; he begins the same strain 



187 



