Vol 'iS XV ] Strong, The Voice of Birds. 133 



THE DESCRIPTION OF THE VOICE OF BIRDS. 



BY R. M. STRONG. 



It was with no small interest that I followed a recent contro- 

 versy x in 'The Auk' over the use of musical signs in describing the 

 voice of birds. We have all read and heard much on this subject. 

 We not only have a very difficult problem in the description of 

 bird voice but we also have a lack of suitable terms for the sounds 

 made by birds. There is, for instance, no really good word to 

 designate single bird sounds except for the word note, which is 

 unsatisfactory in several respects. After considerable study of 

 various possible expressions, which might be used to designate 

 sounds in general made by birds, I adopted "voice" as a term. 



I have had an experience of twelve years with about twenty 

 classes of university students in a course which included teaching 

 bird voice. During that time, I have tried out various methods 

 and the following account is a result. 



It has been my experience that descriptions of bird voice mean 

 very little until one has heard the performance or a good imitation 

 of it. Then descriptions often help in an identification or assist 

 in efforts to memorize the song. I have tried reproducing musical- 

 scale records of bird songs on various musical instruments, but 

 without getting anything that sounded like the bird's performance. 

 Nor have I known anyone else who has had a different experience. 



In conducting class work with birds, I have not found the use of 

 musical scales or of modifications of them often practicable. I 

 have been able furthermore, to teach people without musical 

 ability to recognize many birds by their voice. Occasionally, 

 students with sufficient musical ability and training to use musical- 

 scale symbols occur, but even they have depended largely on other 

 methods in my classes. 



1 Methods of Recording Bird Songs. 



Moore, R. T. Auk. XXXII. Oct., 1915, pp. 535-8. 

 " XXXIII. April, 1916, pp. 228-9. 

 Saunders, A. A. Auk. XXXII. April, 1915, pp. 173-183. 

 XXXIII. Jan., 1916, pp. 103-7. 

 " " " XXXIII. April, 1916, pp. 229-230. 



