DELAWARE VALLEY ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



21 



was whistled very softly without the lower couplets at all. 

 With its inception the regular call-couplets sometimes reversed 

 the accent (after the manner of Rec. 5, which I will explain 

 later) to correspond to the accent of the trill. The remarkable 

 feature of this performance is the "double-noted" effect, an 

 effect which is the almost peculiar possession of the great song- 

 sters, notably the thrushes. Potentially, at least, this places 

 the Oven-bird in their ranks, a position which he may actually 

 attain, if he continues to experiment with these remarkable 

 musical devices. It indicates that he has not yet attained and 

 accomplished, but even now, perhaps, is ascending to some rare 

 achievement, possible only to an evolving genius. 



It is a suggestive fact that Rec. 7 was produced by the same 

 bird which sang Rec. 8, the example chosen to illustrate the 

 first class of aberrant songs. And this indicates the diversity 

 that exists in the productions of individual Oven-birds. A 

 more remarkable example of this is the following group of five 

 songs which were all sung by one bird on May 19, 1911, during 

 a period of three and a half hours. One other record, which has 

 not been inserted, was sung by the same bird. I was with 

 him from 11 a. m. until 2:30 p. m. He was not once out of 

 my sight! At 11:00 he sang thus, 



i'albO 



JLOva. 



cres 



a 





n=f 



m 



lea.c»>eY, lea-cneY, lea.cnc"f, IcaxJ^e-r, lea.cUer, eXc . 



employing crescendo, a moderate rate of speed ( P = 160) and 

 the aberrant repeated note. This he sang a number of times 

 with slight variations until 11: 30, when he raised it a "third" 

 in pitch. About noon, which was unseasonably hot, the song 

 gradually deteriorated. The trill and crescendo were dropped 



; r i' I i 



and the couplets reduced to two. At the same time the accented 



