178 Bird - Lore 



made by the voices of birds, just as our artificial musical scale fails to adapt 

 itself to their music. There are, however, a few principles which, if borne in 

 mind, facilitate the learning of birds' songs. In the first place, one must not 

 expect to learn them all at once, for the learning of birds' voices is even more 

 time-consuming than learning the birds themselves. One must follow up every 

 strange call that he hears and identify the musician, and perhaps repeat this 

 several times for each bird before one can hope to recognize every bird that 

 he hears. Most persons have difficulty in so memorizing a complex sound that 

 they will recognize it when heard again. Or, after it has been heard many 

 times and has become a familiar sound, many have difficulty in linking up 

 the name of the bird with the song unless the sound can be associated with 

 some visual impression that can be remembered and tied to the name of the 

 bird. If the song of the bird brings to mind a certain picture or image, it is 

 comparatively easy to associate the name of the bird with that picture. The 

 pictures may be of very different types, according to the complexity or quality 

 of the song. Some match up readily with spoken words or phrases, while 

 others, and perhaps the majority, have a quaUty difficult to express in language 

 and are best represented by symbols. Thus, the syllables phe-be admirably 

 fit the song of the Chickadee, the word pee-a-wee, that of the Wood Pewee, 

 and the phrase poor-sam-peabody, peabody, peabody, that of the White-throated 

 Sparrow. Other songs, however, like those of the Chipping Sparrow, Ruby- 

 crowned Kinglet, and Veery are best represented by symbols. Some songs 

 may be represented by both. 



In using symbols to represent bird-notes, the writer avoids the customary 

 musical notation because, to his mind, the arbitrary notes of the man-made 

 scale are adapted to a relatively few birds' songs. The symbols which have 

 proved most satisfactory to him are series of lines, dashes, dots, circles, etc., 

 placed in such relation to one another that their vertical position, as in musical 

 notation, indicates their pitch, the length of the line or dash, the duration of 

 the note, and the shape of the symbol, the quahty. The last is the most diffi- 

 cult to explain and is doubtless a personal matter of reminiscence or associa- 

 tion. It has, however, proved useful to hundreds of his students, and is given 

 for what it is worth. Thus, a very fine hissing note, like that of the Golden- 

 crowned Kinglet or Cedar Waxwing, is represented by a thin line, a somewhat 

 fuller whistle like that of the Chickadee or Pewee, by a broader line, and a 

 still fuller mellow note, like that of a Junco, by small circles. A clear note is 

 represented by a straight line or dash, a tremulous note by a wavy line, and a 

 warble, by a more or less coiled or spiral line. If a bird's song is continuous, 

 the lines are all connected; if discontinuous, they are spaced according to the 

 phrases of the bird's song. A glance at the accompanying table should indicate 

 the writer's meaning. Those unfamiliar with any of the songs listed can com- 

 pare the following table of phrases, which fit some of the songs nearly as well 

 as the symbols, and the curious shapes may take on some meaning. 



