474 \ ■ - A I July 



one who is ignorant oi them but a knowledge oi them is necessary to 

 investigation in the fields to which they apply. 



The student oi bird song should not perhaps be too much of a musician; 

 he should moreover have in addition a full appreciation of the importance 

 of scientific accuracy and oi the ultimate objects of the investigation. 

 Records to be of value must be made by actual test of each note with a 

 graded pitch pipe, as is done by our best observers, while the time must 

 he correctly gauged by some metronome contrivance. The memorizing oi 

 a song and its later transcription on the musical staff, will not suffice. 



Accurate records require a vast amount of painstaking effort but 

 they embody the scientific musical basis of the song - that which is essen- 

 tial for its study. They have already shown us that there is great in- 

 dividual variation in the song of any species, the apparent uniformity being 

 due to the identity of certain leading notes or intervals in the songs of all 

 individuals. The possibilities for future work are innumerable. The 

 whole question of mimicry is involved, upon which we have diametrically 

 opposite opinions and between these only a study based on such records 

 can decide. Are the songs of such birds as the Mockingbird really mimicry 

 or is the resemblance to the songs oi certain other species merely accidental? 

 When the individuals oi a species in the same immediate neighborhood are 

 found to sing in the same key. does it indicate a desire on the part of the 

 birds for harmony or are these birds of common ancestry and have they 

 inherited the tendency to sing at a certain pitch along with other inherited 

 characters? Have birds really an appreciation of music similar to that 

 possessed by man. or is the complementary nature of the songs of several 

 individuals answering one another accidental and due in part to the imagi- 

 nation of the hearer*? These and many other questions are awaiting 

 conclusive answers and in investigating them we must remember that bird 

 song is music and in its scientific study must be measured by musical 

 Standards. At the same time the need of rigid accuracy and unbiased 

 judgment must ever be kept in mind to guard against the enthusiasm of the 

 musician which like that of the artist is sometimes inclined to run away 

 with him when dealing with such problems. 



Tins American Museum's Colombian expedition of 1913, returned to 

 New '\ ork City early in May. after an absence of four months. The expedi- 

 tion was under the leadership oi Frank M. Chapman, who had as his chief 

 assistant that experienced collectorin tropical America, Ce> | rrie, 



while 1 ouis \ . SS lertes served as the artist of the expedition, and 



Thomas King. Paul Griswold Howes, and > O'Connell acted as 



lss stants The objects oi the expedition were to secure material for a 

 Habitat Group of the bird-life of the Magdalena Valley; to determine as 

 accurately - ble the limits of the so-called "b cum from 



which, during the past seventy-live or more years, doubtless hundn 

 thousands ave been shipped; and to collect a series of representa- 



tive birds from tins region which should be properly labeled as regards 



