132 Journal of Comparative Neurology. 



began to utter the same sounds which they had uttered before, 

 and this time I secured a good record of their sounds to com- 

 pare with the others." 



We refer the reader to the volume for much interesting 

 matter. A profitable field for study exists in the communications 

 of other animals. 



While speaking of the language of animals it would be un- 

 fair to neglect their songs. One of the most pleasing excursions 

 into a new field is the attempt at notations of bird music in 

 Cheney's Wood Notes Wild. 1 



The book is delightful, it breathes the enthusiasm of a 

 poetic soul for nature's melodious solitudes. It cannot fail to 

 revive the charm of many a Spring morning. Unfortunately 

 neither the author's descriptions nor his musical notation can 

 revive the ecstacy for one who has not experienced it. The 

 inadequacy of the musical notation grows out of the fact that 

 the timbre and accidence of bird music are as important as its 

 melody and more characteristic. Moreover bird music is 

 Wagnerian and depends on the setting. Our author recognizes 

 this and gives the initiated imagination the stage directions with 

 the score, as "In a deep forest" "signal for flight," etc. Our 

 author's soul was full of music and he could hear it everywhere, 

 as witness the notation of water dropping from a faucet into a 

 bucket, the squeak of a door or a clothes horse. There is some- 

 thing lacking in the experience of one who cannot appreciate 

 such bursts as these : "Occasionally, on reaching the hight, the 

 song bursts like a rocket, and the air is full of silver tones." 

 "Does one attempt to steal the enchanter's notes, he is antici- 

 pated, and finds himself stolen, heart and all the senses." The 

 volume is enriched by voluminous notes and copies of all known 

 notations of bird music and a full bibliography. It opens the 

 field for a comprehensive study of animal phonetics. Peculiar 

 aptitudes and a wide range of preparation will be necessary for 

 such work but there can be no doubt that it will prove remuner- 

 ative. The application of the phonograph and experimental 

 imitation of the organs of song based on the now ample anatom- 



(I.) Cheney, Simeon Peask, Wood Notes Wild, Lee and Shepard, 

 Boston, 1892, $2.00. 



