A MUSICAL KEY. 



with time or a " rhythmic beat " ? Yes, not only one bird, 

 but forty ! Here is the song of the Black-billed Cuckoo : 



.. ..or this 



And here is the Robin ... , 



And here is the Flicker 



And the Black-throated Green Warbler 



And the Nashville Warbler 



And the Whip-poor-will 



Not one of the little fellows above ever gets his rhythm 

 mixed up with that of the other fellow. 



The next step is to become familiar with those mechani- 

 cal divisions of tone which the musical staff represents. 

 Tones of course are separated by regular intervals.* 

 The simplest demonstration of well-separated tones in 

 connection with the rhythmic beat will be found in the 

 song of the Peabody Bird : 

 



j r 



Old Sdm Pea -body, Pea-body, Pea-body. 



This little fellow frequently sings an interval of "a 

 fifth," that is, he sings A, perhaps, and jumps over B, C, 

 and D, to E. The musical staff shows this as clearly to 

 one who can not read music as it does to one who can : 

 This time beat ts t,he one commonly used by writers, 



*- 



But 



IP 



this ti/rtf. 



.,_ 



tune beat is probably more accurate. 





Htfct: 



r The following is the perfected form. 

 Modesto. c/*4__ " y > ' > 





* The little bird dues not always correctly heed his intervals, he 

 very otten sings sharp or flat ; but, strictly speaking, no person 



xxvii 



