( 2 ) 

 THE STUDY OF BIRD-NOTES. 



BY 



Dr. HANS STABLER and CORNEL SCHMITT. 



Although as early as 1866 Harting furnished phrases 

 of bird-notes in the Birds of Middlesex, and later 

 again, information concerning the songs of many kinds 

 of birds has been given us by Hartert in Die Vogel 

 der paldarktischen Fauna, the study of the notes of 

 birds has until now found few adherents in England. 

 It seems to us as though English ornithologists have 

 undervalued the significance of the study of voices 

 for practical purposes, and as though such purely 

 scientific work has found but little favour in the 

 more practical mind of the English. In Germany, on 

 the contrary, it has gained an increasing number of 

 disciples from year to year, owing to Alwin Voigt, 

 and it has grown to be a special branch of science. 

 We never hear a doubt expressed regarding its value, 

 or even its practical value. 



Apart from the want of a musical ear or musical 

 education in the non-scientist, there are three difficulties 

 which make even musicians among ornithologists and 

 naturalists hold back from a deeper study of the 

 notes and songs of birds. Firstly, the musical pitch, 

 which until now it has been impossible to fix in 

 consequence of its great actual height ; secondly, the 

 non-musical sounds which, mingled with the notes, 

 greatly influence them as a whole, and do not allow of 

 any musical analysis or classification ; thirdly, the 

 colouring of bird-notes, which often greatly differs 

 from that of the human voice and familiar instruments. 

 We wish to show in a few Avords that these 

 difficulties can be overcome. 



1. The musical pitch. — To fix the keynote of birds, 

 we have at our disposal — firstly, the human singing- 

 voice, which reaches from the lower G of the deep 

 bass voice, to the high C of the trained soprano : 

 it renders us excellent service for the imitation of 



