sing in different keys, and in different measures of time." 

 "Every species follows it own unalterable law in rhythmic 

 time, no matter how different are the songs of individuals. 

 This principle is the key to an immediate recognition of the 

 singer." "The easiest explanation of a rhythmic beat is the 

 drum-beat. Any child would recognize this rhythm. The 

 rhythm of the whip-poor-will never varies, no matter how 

 varied the pitch of the tones." 



In speaking of compass, Mr. Mathews says: "Birds' voices 

 are pitched so high that most of them are somewhere within 

 the compass of the highest octave on the piano, and many 

 of them, as in the case of the warbler, continue to the other 

 side of the woodwork." 



I do not consider myself a whistler, nor a bird imitator, 

 but I will try to give you the melody of the songs which I 

 have obtained, without attempting to reproduce the quality of 

 the voices of the birds. All of the following songs I ob- 

 tained from the birds themselves, and none of them are 

 identical with those in any book that I have seen, which 

 proves how infinite is the variety. 



The one which we shall soon hear, the love song of the 

 chickadee, is considered by some writers to be the purest 

 music on earth. I have secured records of the songs of 

 other birds, as follows: Bluebird, oriole, rose-breasted gros- 

 beak, red-eyed vireo, and robin, eight songs; a group which 

 I call conversational songs, because they are composed of 

 short snatches; white-crowned sparrow; peabody bird, six 

 records; warbling vireo, purple finch; call of the goldfinch, 

 pewee, red-winged blackbird, meadow lark, eleven records; 

 Maryland yellowthroat, spotted sandpiper, hermit thrush, 

 vesper sparrow, four records; field sparrow, and about four- 

 teen distinct songs of the song sparrow, besides others that 

 seem to be only variations of the same songs. 



In these songs I do not find that Mr. Mathews's rule, of 

 each species following its own particular rhythm, always holds 

 good. It is generally supposed that the song sparrow starts 

 with two or three long, loud, clear tones. I have four songs 

 that have that characteristic, and two that do not start in that 

 way. 



On day I heard two song sparrows singing in antiphonal 



9 



