THE ANATOMY OF BIRD-SONG. 103 



and between Lake Superior and the Gulf of 

 Mexico. My work has been prosecuted every 

 month of the year, and my birds have been o( 

 every age from nestlings up, and while I have 

 taken the syrinx and other members of the 

 vocal organ from the male rather than from 

 the female, still I have not neglected the 

 latter. 



Finally, as a part of my self-appointed task, 

 I have examined by every method I could 

 command, the voice qualities possessed by our 

 song-birds. This last I consider of importance 

 in view of the fact that a difference in voice 

 quality naturally suggests a difference of 

 some degree in the development of the vocal 

 organs. The timbre, or, for that matter, any 

 quality of bird-voice varies as much between 

 species as does the appearance of any notable 

 physical feature, whilst among the true sing- 

 ers there is no appreciable difference of 

 syrinx-development, so far as my examina- 

 tions have disclosed, but of this in the proper 

 place. 



If the question arise, and I must answer 

 why I have made this study, I shall deem it 

 enough for me to say that I had to do it. The 

 subject took hold of me and would not be 

 shaken off. The birds, singly, in wisps, and in 

 clamorous mobs, assaulted me with their 

 melodious missiles, and taunted me with the 

 mystery of their song-power. In the dark 

 woods of the Middle West, along the shores 

 of the Northern lakes, in the blooming thick- 

 ets of the Florida peninsula, in the swamps of 

 the Creole country, and all through the pictur- 

 esque hill region of Alabama, Georgia, the 

 Carolinas, and Tennessee, they had jeered 

 at me, laughed at me, scolded me, and 

 whistled me to scorn, and then, to com- 

 plete my perplexity, they had sung me to 

 sleep and sung me awake with delicate and 



