INTRODUCTION. 



!>inl himself which causes him to sing though there is no 

 oar to listen," and further, the writer advises his reader to 

 "seek the cause of song in the internal life of the bird rather 

 than in external causes."* 



The addition of many birds to the original group included 

 in this book was a much needed one. Although a number 

 of the species are rather uncommon, one is likely to be sur- 

 prised by the appearance of a rare individual at any time 

 in some most unexpected place; that has been my own ex- 

 perience, and several of the song-records, notably those of 

 the Lincoln Sparrow, the inimitable little Winter Wren, and 

 the Tennessee Warbler, were quite accidental acquisitions; 

 indeed, a considerable number of the notations contained 

 here were such, but I believe they may at least claim the 

 credit of "aiirst appearance." Whether they are useful 

 for the purpose of identifying the birds is another matter 

 one which I must leave for the reader to decide. It is 

 sufficient for me to point out that I recognized the song of 

 the Veery for the first time in the winter of 1884 upon read- 

 ing a notation of it in an article on Bird Music by Simeon 

 Pease Cheney which appeared in the Century Magazine at 

 that time. Thirty-one years later, on a certain occasion I 

 requested a Boston musician to go to the piano, run his 

 fingers in a particular way over a progression of minor 

 thirds ascending within the diminished seventh and he 

 would have the equivalent of the song of Swainson's 

 Thrush; he did so and instantly reproduced the notes of 

 the musical record found on page 253. He did not see nor 

 did he need to see the written music, the verbal description 

 was enough. At the same time, for those who do not read 

 or understand music I have not hesitated to introduce 

 within these pages every possible means aside from music 

 which may promise help in the identification of bird-song. 

 Therefore, on this same page 253, there is a suggestive 

 scalloped line accompanied by Bradford Torrey's syllabic 

 IDI in which also represents the music of Swainson's Thrush. 



Even if there were but one among a dozen of my consid- 

 erate readers who could read a musical record, that would 

 discount its ultimate value in no respect if it were truthful, 



* Vide The Auk, October, 1918, vol. xxxv., No. 4, p. 421. 



vii 



