86 



BIRDS, SONGS OF. 



the annual molt, and has to be reacquired with 

 efforts that are not always apparent, for the 

 bird practices in an undertone until it can again 

 venture on a full-voiced performance. The 

 song of the same bird changes also with the 

 climate, locality, and season of the year, and 

 reaches its full richness in spring-time. It also 

 changes from year to year, and gradually im- 

 proves under favorable conditions until the 

 bird has reached the maximum development 

 of its muscular and nervous system, and even 

 then it may be developed still further in birds 

 which have special powers of imitation. Most 

 singing-birds have some faculty of imitation of 

 the notes of other songsters, though it is con- 

 fined chiefly to the notes of their own species, 

 so that the general character of the song is pre- 

 served from generation to generation. There 

 is a remarkable difference in the extent and 

 quality of the song among individual birds of 

 the same species, tor though they may all be- 

 long to a singing family, it by no means follows 

 that they will all have talent, and it even hap- 

 pens that, of two birds out of the same nest, 

 one will greatly excel and the other will prove 

 mediocre in song. In general, birds that have 

 fully formed their song do not imitate much 

 except through rivalry on special occasions. 

 The analysis of the song of particular birds 

 which is here given is based on a study of their 

 notes in a native as well as in a captive state, 

 and many of the tones here described are only 

 to be heard as the reward of nearer acquaint- 

 ance of the songsters in their wild haunts. 



The Nightingale (Luscinia philomela). The 

 nightingale is the king of songsters, and its 

 song presents difficulties of analysis, for it is 

 both rapid and intricate. This rapidity of 

 execution is a striking feature and it can be 

 safely said not only that no other bird, but not 

 even the skilled hand of man applied to a mu- 

 sical instrument, can produce in single succes- 

 sion, in a minute more notes than are poured 

 forth from the throat of this wonderful little 

 creature. The volume and compass of its voice 

 are equally remarkable in view of the fact that 

 it is not much larger than an English sparrow. 

 Its loudest tones can be heard as far as those 

 of the human voice. The anatomical reason 

 for this is the unusually powerful development 

 of the syringeal muscles, which in two speci- 

 mens that tiie writer dissected were found to 

 be especially well adapted for the production 

 of tension of the true vocal membranes of the 

 syrinx. One who has the rare opportunity to 

 study and record tlie notes of a nightingale in 

 full song will find that they number from 

 twenty to thirty, and that these original and 

 distinct tones are differently arranged and re- 

 arranged so as to give an almost endless va- 

 riety. There is no regular round of song, as 

 with many other birds, but changes and sur- 

 prises follow at every turn, so that the most 

 familiar ear can not anticipate that which is to 

 come, although the separate notes of which all 

 the performances consist may be recognized. 



In other words, the nightingale's musical per- 

 formances are real improvisations. The actual 

 range of the voice is about two and a half 

 octaves, and its flexibility is most remarkable 

 throughout this range. The only effort is not 

 in transition but apparently in the repression 

 of its voluminous notes. As regards the reten- 

 tion and use of its breath and the phrasing of 

 its passages, no artist could be more success- 

 ful. Long strains follow one another without 

 interruption of sound, and a whole minute may 

 elapse without any perceptible break in the 

 melody. Its most striking effects are attained 

 in its staccato passages, which display such 

 power of attack, such brilliancy and rapidity, 

 as to merit the figurative description of vocal 

 pyrotechnics. They are explosive sounds, and 

 can not fail to excite agreeable surprise. An- 

 other of its notable feats is its crescendo, which 

 sometimes consists in a very gradual increase 

 in strength and fullness of song throughout 

 long passages, but it is more frequently the 

 rapid swelling of a single long note which dur- 

 ing four or five repetitions passes from the 

 smallest to the greatest volume of tone that 

 the bird commands. 



The timbre of the nightingale's voice is so 

 peculiar that it can readily be distinguished 

 from that of all other birds, and its chief char- 

 acteristics are mellowness and brilliancy. The 

 tones of birds are probably modified in a cer- 

 tain measure by sounds in surrounding nature. 

 The nightingale is wont to frequent small run- 

 ning streams, and the liquid and purling qual- 

 ity of its tones would seem to be but an echo 

 of one of the constant natural sounds of its 

 haunts. But it seems to take pleasure in an 

 occasional strong contrast produced by harsh 

 notes suddenly interjected in the midst of its 

 musical volleys. These rough sounds resem- 

 ble somewhat the crinkling of stiff paper, or 

 even the grating of pebbles when rubbed 

 against one another. The nightingale seldom 

 deigns to imitate other birds, although it has 

 great ability in this way. When challenged 

 by one of its kind in song, it will seize upon 

 the finest passage of its rival and reproduce it 

 with still finer execution. It shows great 

 emulation even in caged life, and the writer 

 has known it to out-sing and silence both the 

 gay lark and the game mocking-bird, and when 

 in full song it absolutely refuses to yield its 

 place of first singer in the feathered choir. 



The following are the principal notes of the 

 nightingale's song : 



1. A long sound like tiou-tiou, distinctly ar- 

 ticulated in different keys, and with increasing 

 loudness several times in succession, and usu- 

 ally on a rising scale, is a characteristic note, 

 which at times has sush a plaintive tone as to 

 justify the term "melancholy," which the 

 poets have often applied to this part of the 

 song. 



2. The scale is a long series of notes, which 

 rise or fall through the whole compass of the 

 voice with astonishing power and rapidity. 



