PAPERS ON ZOOLOGY 171 



In my experience the meadow lark easily heads the listin 

 variety. I have transcribed between three and four hun- 

 dred songs of this bird. His repertoire seems to be inex- 

 haustible. Of course there are certain strains that one 

 hears more often than others. (Ex. 2-9). Or one may 

 hear a particular song in one key today and in another key 

 tomorrow or next week. One may hear several variations 

 on a particular strain. A very unusual song, because in a 

 minor key, I heard from the same field five springs in suc- 

 cession. There were two variations upon this theme. 

 (Ex. 10-12). I doubt very much if any one meadow lark 

 always sings the same strain on all occasions, as some 

 seem to think. I have listened to one of these birds for 

 twenty minutes, keeping it in view all the time, and have 

 heard it sing no less than twelve different songs during 

 that length of time. Often two birds will sing antiphon- 

 ally, answering each other from neighboring trees. 



It is strange how differently bird songs affect different 

 people. Some think the meadow lark's song "so plaintive," 

 although it is rarely in a minor key. Others say that the 

 dove and the wood pewee sound mournful and that the 

 screech owl's quavering song gives them the shivers. 

 Sounds of the joy of life, one and all. Indeed, I frequently 

 have conversations with screech owls and find them very 

 good company ! , 



The song sparrow is one of the best singers of his branch 

 of the finch family ; although his song is not easy to trans- 

 scribe in musical notation, owing to its greater length, 

 more varied time, and the intermixture sometimes of 

 rather indefinite tones. This bird is much given to em- 

 bellishments, such as grace notes. Once I heard a song 

 sparrow do what one would reasonably suppose to be an 

 impossibility — sound two notes at once, as though one 

 struck two piano keys, half-tones, together. (Ex. 13-16). 



There is a great charm about the simple strain of the 

 field sparrow. No matter where it is heard, the first note 

 conjures up a vision of wide expanses of sunny meadows. 

 The song rests the ear as a distant country view rests the 

 eye. 



The starling family, to which our blackbirds, orioles, 

 and meadow larks belong, might be called the flute singers, 

 as their voices have a flute-like quality. The Baltimore 



