102 THE ANATOMY OF BIRD-SONG. 



bird-voice being formed or originated in the 

 syrinx. I admit that my doubt had no scien- 

 tific basis at first, for it was suggested by the 

 feeble and insignificant appearance of the 

 organ, but it bore upon my mind with suffi- 

 cient weight to send me back to the books for a 

 re-study of the subject. There were Macgil- 

 livray's figures again, drawn from the larynx 

 and syrinx of the rook, a typical oscine, and 

 there was Professor Huxley's singularly clear 

 description, accepted by everybody. But the 

 doubt had got into my mind unbidden and it 

 would not obey when I ordered it out. So I 

 set about making original investigations, 

 which have taken much time and covered a 

 great deal more ground than I intended, and 

 which, nevertheless, are yet far from complete. 

 I began by making first a thorough study of 

 the construction of the oscine larynx from 

 specimens collected by myself. In doing this 

 I took from various species the larynx and 

 syrinx with the tongue attached, and com- 

 pared them in every way, making minutely 

 copious notes and sketches as I went along. 

 Next I dissected these members with a view 

 to becoming certainly familiar with their 

 structure and with their mode of action inde- 

 pendently and correlatively . At the same 

 time every anatomical feature of the bird's 

 mouth was studied and experimented upon 

 with full sketches and notes. As an aid to 

 my investigations with knife, needle, and 

 microscope, I patiently and closely watched 

 caged birds while singing, and with a powerful 

 field-glass gave wild birds the same attention 

 during their lyrical performances. 



It may not be out of place to state that in 

 the course of all these studies I made journeys 

 which, taken together, have covered a large 

 part of the territory east .of the Mississippi 

 River and west of the Alleghany Mountains' 



