THE TRXSCRIPTION OF BIRD SONGS. 207 



thirteen tones we emplo3^ So it comes to pass that many 

 or most bird songs cannot adequately be expressed in our 

 notation. The best the transcriber can do is to bring them 

 as near to it as possible. 



An additional difficulty attends the transcription of the 

 songs of the true thrushes, our finest singers ; indeed, I may 

 sa}' the finest singers in the world. Owing parth' to the 

 peculiar resonance of tone produced by them and partly 

 to the fact that the songs are usually heard in wooded lo- 

 calities where echoes abound, the effect is as much due to 

 harmon}' as to melod}-. This is an important considera- 

 tion and its understanding will help to explain much of the 

 mystery associated with these songs. It is nol likeh- that 

 any bird can sound two or more tones at the same instant. 

 Yet there is undeniably an effect produced as if they could 

 and did. How can this be explained? Take a simple 

 illustration. If you strike the notes of a chord one by one 

 on the pianoforte, keeping the fingers down or using the 

 open pedal, the vibration of all the strings struck will 

 presently be heard as a chord, lingering as such for a time 

 proportionate to the sustaining power of the instrument. 

 A similar process goes on in the woods when a Veery 

 sings. His succession of arpeggio-like passages, while in 

 fact only a succession of single tones in rapid movement, 

 is caught up by the echoing trees and banks and rocks and 

 hills in such a way that the earlier notes of a phrase are 

 still vibrating in the air when the later ones are produced, 

 and there ensues an overlapping and intertwining of tones 

 of various pitch and in various harmonies. The song ot 

 the same bird in the open field and in the forest would 

 scarcely be recognized as identical. 



The rhythmical element in bird songs may be represent- 

 ed without difficult}-, and the rhythm is in many cases so 

 characteristic as to be of great value in the identification 

 of the singer. For example ; the songs of the robin and 



