184 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



' * This was seldom given, yet quite often enough to allow it to 

 be written down on board. The second measure would be sung 

 quite fast, sounding almost like the pecking of a woodpecker 

 on a tree, and at other times it would be slow like the dropping 

 of water. Although she had no ear for time, yet she would 

 keep to the key of & (two flats), and strictly in a major key. 

 This fact I consider interesting, as Wood declares his belief 'that 

 the untaught cries of all the lower animals, whether quadru- 

 peds or birds, are in the minor key. ' Herein theory must yield 

 to observation. If I might venture an opinion, it would be 

 that the music of the really musical wild animals is oftener on 

 a major key, while the minor key characterizes savage man. 

 A remarkable fact in the above role is the scope of little Hespie's 

 musical powers. Her soft, clear voice falls an octave with all 

 the precision possible; then, at the wind-up, it rises again into 

 a quick trill on c sharp and d. 



"Though it be at the risk of taxing belief yet I must, in duty, 

 record one of Hespie's most remarkable performances. She 

 was gamboling in the large compartment of her cage, in a mood 

 indicating intense animal enjoyment, having awoke from a long 

 sleep, and partaken of some favorite food. She burst into a 

 fullness of song very rich in its variety. While running and 

 jumping, she rolled off what I have called her Grand Role; then 

 sitting, she went over it again, ringing out the strangest diver- 

 sity of changes, by an almost whimsical transposition of the 

 bars; then, without for an instant stopping the music, she leapt 

 into the wheel, started it revolving at its highest speed, 

 and went through the wheel song in exquisite style, giving 

 several repetitions of it. After this she returned to the large 

 compartment, took up again the Grand Role, and put into it 

 some variations of execution which astonished me. One meas- 

 ure, I remember, was so silvery and soft that I said to a lady 

 who was listening, that a canary able to execute that would be 

 worth a hundred dollars. (I occasionally detected what I am 

 unable to explain, a literal dual sound, very like a boy whist- 

 ling as he draws a stick along the pickets of a fence,) So the 

 music went on, as I listened, watch in hand, until actually nine 

 minutes had elapsed. Now the wonderful fact is, that the rest 

 between the roles was never more than a second of time, and 

 during all the singing, the muscles could be seen in vigorous 

 action through the entire length of the abdomen. This feat 

 would be impossible to a professional singer, and the nearest 

 to it that I have seen was the singing of a bird in the grove. 



