WHIP-POOR-WILL. 
six and he breaks in on both the others with an emphatic 
and vociferous insistence on the original key, F, but even 
he must impress his own personality on the song, so he 
proceeds in F minor ! 
The pitch of all these songs is. one octave higher than the records. 
{t thus happens that we have been listening to half a 
dozen Whip-poor-wills, whose songs progressively range 
through the keys, F, D flat, G, E flat, A flat, and F 
minor!* I confess that I have picked out from my col- 
lection of Whip-poor-will annotations these six songs in 
correlated keys for the purpose of showing the generally 
harmonious relationship of bird music. It would indeed 
be a rare occasion if the six occurred in the regular suc- 
cession given above, but there is every chance in the 
world that we will hear something very similar t6 this 
the next time we listen to a number of Whip-poor-wills 
singing together. That depends upon our “ear for 
music.” This bird is Nature’s virtuoso in the perform- 
ance of the Nocturne, and it requires but little study to 
discover the fact that few if any of the renderings are 
exactly similar. An attentive ear at close range will 
detect a sound like cuwh coming from the bird’s throat 
between each of the whip-poor-wills, but one must be 
very near to catch it. Evidently it is caused by sucking 
in the breath and shutting and opening the bill prepara- 
tory to the next whistles. One will also notice a 
very perceptible quaver on the syllable poor,} so I have 
properly indicated that by a grace note in the last song. 
*This is no ordinary progression ; the six songs played on the 
piano in the order given above show at once a harmonious 
relationship. 
7 Mr. Cheney’s division of this syllable into two equal parts (two 
gixteenth notes) does not seem to me correct, even though he 
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