viii FAMILIAR FEATURES OF THE ROADSIDE. 



things are drawn beside the pictures of their own 

 homes. 



I hope the scraps of music which I have intro- 

 duced will stimulate a little interest in a somewhat 

 neglected phase of wild life. We certainly have very 

 meager records of bird music, and until the notes of 

 our singing birds are completely and fully recorded, 

 we will never possess a complete knowledge of the 

 birds themselves. However imperfect the average 

 ear is in catching and retaining a musical tone, it is 

 impossible to believe that there are many too dull to 

 distinguish apart the songs of the warbling and the 

 red-eyed vireos. We might as well persuade our- 

 selves that a person with average good eyesight can 

 not tell a square apart from a triangle. I might record 

 a dozen songs of as many red-eyed vireos, and although 

 each would be different from the other, the general 

 principle of construction would remain the same in 

 all. A record of the warbling vireo's music would 

 also reveal its individuality. To the unfortunate per- 

 son who could not read music the difference in the 

 appearance of the written music of these two birds 

 would not only be perfectly apparent, but as marked 

 as the difference between a triangle and a square. 



I regret that the limits of the book would not en- 

 able me to include many other birds, crickets, and 

 frogs ; their music is interesting and beautiful ; but I 



