°'l9l6 J Oldys, The Singing of Veeries. 21 



songs ; the impossibility in the case of some songs, of making more 

 than merely suggestive records (though such suggestive records 

 have a value, often important) ; and the extreme difficulty, in certain 

 other instances, of securing a perfect record, legitimate differences 

 of interpretation will arise in this branch of ornithology, as in all 

 other branches. Such discrepancies will gradually disappear as 

 knowledge progresses. 



But all such points, be it understood, can best be discussed by 

 musical scientists, rather than non-musical scientists, whose lack 

 of musical information often leads them to offer frivolous and 

 absurd objections. (One such criticism in the case of a published 

 record of a Bewick's wren song showed ignorance of the fundamental 

 fact that the key of a song merely indicates its pitch, and was based 

 on the ludicrous notion that it would be more difficult for a bird to 

 sing in six flats than in one!) 



The study of thrush music is of especial value, owing to its ad- 

 vanced character in comparison with most bird music; and it is 

 my earnest hope that musicians living within the breeding ranges 

 of different members of the thrush family throughout the world 

 may become interested in making permanent records of note- 

 worthy songs, and thus preserve them to science. 



