AN INTRODUCTION TO BIRD MUSIC. 



There are, of course, similarities in the songs of birds of 

 the same species, but the differences, nevertheless, are as 

 distinct as those by means of which the ornithologist 

 has separated Bicknell's Thrush from the Gray-cheeked 

 Thrush ! There are immense differences in the individual 

 songs of the Vireos, Finches, Orioles, Tanagers, and 

 Thrushes. For lack of intimate acquaintance with the 

 music of a particular bird we think he sings just like 

 *Jie next one why ! do all roosters have the same crow ? 

 No, any farmer knows better than that. And does the 

 youthful rooster sing as well as the old one ? Never ! 

 Only one thing stands as unalterable in the song of a 

 given species, that is, mechanical rhythm ; the rooster's 



crow, therefore, will ever be thus: 



We think there is a vast mediocrity of singers in 

 Nature's chorus, and only occasionally a supreme soloist! 

 It is scarcely so; the master singer, I fear is often so 

 labeled without that wider acquaintance with the many 

 talented singers which would cause us to hesitate before 

 we hang the card over his neck. I would, I must, spend 

 an hour or more in the piano warerooms trying instru- 

 ments before I pronounced judgment on a particular 

 one, and in some respects the choice would be purely a 

 matter of taste. I wonder whether that delicate instru- 

 ment in the throat of the Hermit Thrush differs so 

 widely from the one made by the hand of man, that the 

 Great Designer succeeded in turning it out like a mere 

 machine, not one whit different from others he had 

 created! No! never does Nature repeat herself; it is 

 not one vast mediocre chorus, it is an endless variety 

 of soloists whose voices, filled with tone-color, redundant 

 in melody, replete with expression, and strong in indi- 

 viduality, make up the orchestra which performs every 

 year the glad spring symphony. The Hermit is the 

 great tone artist, the Red-eyed Vireo is the obligato 

 accompanist, the Song Sparrow is the melodist, and the 

 Partridge controls the drums. But every individual 

 sings his o\vn song ! 



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