INTRODUCTION. 
bird himself which causes him to sing though there is no 
ear to listen,’ and further, the writer advises his reader to 
“seek the cause of song in the internal life of the bird rather 
than in external causes.’’* 
The addition of many birds to the original group included 
in this book was a much needed one. Although a number 
of the species are rather uncommon, one is likely to be sur- 
prised by the appearance of a rare individual at any time 
in some most unexpected place; that has been my own ex- 
perience, and several of the song-records, notably those of 
the Lincoln Sparrow, the inimitable little Winter Wren, and 
the Tennessee Warbler, were quite accidental acquisitions; 
indeed, a considerable number of the notations contained 
here were such, but I believe they may at least claim the 
credit of ‘‘a first appearance.”” Whether they are useful 
for the purpose of identifying the birds is another matter— 
one which I must leave for the reader to decide. It is 
sufficient for me to point out that I recognized the song of 
the Veery for the first time in the winter of 1884 upon read- 
ing a notation of it in an article on Bird Music by Simeon 
Pease Cheney which appeared in the Century Magazine at 
that time. Thirty-one years later, on a certain occasion I 
requested a Boston musician to go to the piano, run his 
fingers in a particular way over a progression of minor 
thirds ascending within the diminished seventh and he 
would have the equivalent of the song of Swainson’s 
Thrush; he did so and instantly reproduced the notes of 
the musical record found on page 253. He did not see nor 
did he need to see the written music, the verbal description 
was enough. At the same time, for those who do not read 
or understand music I have not hesitated to introduce 
within these pages every possible means aside from music 
which may promise help in the identification of bird-song. 
Therefore, on this same page 253, there is a suggestive 
scalloped line accompanied by Bradford Torrey’s syllabic 
form which also represents the music of Swainson’s Thrush. 
Even if there were but one among a dozen of my consid- 
erate readers who could read a musical record, that would 
discount its ultimate value in no respect if it were truthful, 
* Vide The Auk, October, 1918, vol. xxxv., No. 4:p. 421. 
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