AN INTRODUCTION TO BIRD MUSIC, 
There are, of course, similarities in the songs of birds of 
the same species, but the differences, nevertheless, are as 
distinct as those by means of which the ornithologist 
has separated Bicknell’s Thrush from the Gray-cheeked 
Thrush! There are immense differences in the individual 
songs of the Vireos, Finches, Orioles, Tanagers, and 
Thrushes. For lack of intimate acquaintance with the 
music of a particular bird we think he sings just like 
the next one—why! do all roosters have the same crow? 
No, any farmer knows better than that. And does the 
youthful rooster sing as well as the old one? Never! 
Only one thing stands as unalterable in the song of a 
given species,—thatis, mechanicalrhythm ; the rooster’s 
crow, therefore, will ever be thus: 
We think there is a vast mediocrity of singers in 
Nature’s chorus, and only occasionally a supreme soloist! 
_It is scarcely so; the master singer, I fear is often so 
labeled without that wider acquaintance with the many 
talented singers which would cause us to hesitate before 
we hang the card over his neck. I would, I must, spend 
an hour or more in the piano warerooms trying instru- 
ments before I pronounced judgment on a particular 
one, and in some respects the choice would be purely a 
matter of taste. I wonder whether that delicate instru- 
ment in the throat of the Hermit Thrush differs so 
widely from the one made by the hand of man, that the 
Great Designer succeeded in turning it out like a mere 
machine, not one whit different from others he had 
created! No! never does Nature repeat herself; it is 
not one vast mediocre chorus, it is an endless variety 
of soloists whose voices, filled with tone-color, redundant 
in melody, replete with expression, and strong in indi- 
viduality, make up the orchestra which performs every 
year the glad spring symphony. The Hermit is the 
great tone artist, the Red-eyed Vireo is the obligato 
accompanist, the Song Sparrow is the melodist, and the 
Partridge controls the drums. But every individual 
sings his own song ! 
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