FAMILY Turdide. 
You may call that the Bluebird’s note if you choose but 
there is a certain unsteady, bouncing character to it 
which can only be properly expressed by the grace note 
and the succeeding three notes; or, by this suggestive 
musical sign: 
on» Mwice Bra. 
It is precisely the Bluebird’s method to handle all his 
notes that way; the little singer does not seem to know 
how to rest steadily on any one tone! There is a plead- 
ing quality to his voice—a plaintive tenderness which is 
entirely due to the unsteady character of his notes. No 
Robin sings this way, however similar the notations of 
the two birds appear to the eye; for, if one expressed 
the Bluebird’s music by dots it would look exactly like 
that of the Robin, and as a matter of course musical 
notation is little more than the scientific placing of such 
dots. It is therefore very necessary for the reader to 
pay strict heed to the Italian directions for expression; 
these will show the fundamental difference between the 
songs of the two birds. There is so little variety in the 
music of the Bluebird that the following record suffices 
to represent its fixed character; the scope of the voice 
is limited to a fifth, but as a rule the bird sticks pretty 
close to a minor third, and to the minor key: 
Allegretto. 
as SS eee 
7. a 
Delicato: sempre legato et tremolo. 
Ly Bi Fw se Be a 
Ont $f FFF i en io 
Even when a number of Bluebirds are singing together 
very early in the morning, when one would suppose that 
the song would be at its best, I have scarcely ever heard 
a singer suggest the major. Here is a song, the minor 
key of which was unmistakably evident, that came to 
my ears at half-past five on a morning in June, 1902, in 
Dublin, N. H. 
214 
