OBSERVATIONS ON THE NOTE OF THE CUCKOO. 339 



with each other fixed intervals."* A well-trained ear will divide 

 a musical sound into its component notes without difficulty, 

 while to the ordinary ear a single tone will alone be audible. It 

 is to these additional notes — these " overtones " or "harmonics" 

 — that differences in the quality of sounds are due. Now to my 

 ear the notes of a Cuckoo have few equals in quality ; they give 

 me as much pleasure as the finest notes of the Blackcap or 

 Marsh Warbler, and I think as much as a well-played violin or 

 the middle notes of a good French horn. When the Cuckoo is 

 at its best both notes are deliciously full and " creamy," but this 

 is especially the case with the second or lower one. It is a 

 curious fact that if you watch a Cuckoo when uttering its call, 

 it is evident that all the labour is bestowed on the production of 

 the first note, which is jerked out with considerable effort, while 

 the second one seems to be produced without the slightest exer- 

 tion. Yet the sound of the second note carries a long way the 

 further ; you can easily hear it at a distance at which the upper 

 note is quite inaudible. 



The notes of the Cuckoo are probably remarkably rich in 

 overtones. It is an ascertained fact that simple notes without 

 overtones are " soft, dull, and monotonous, and entirely devoid 

 of shrillness or brilliancy ; and it is a curious characteristic of 

 them that they often give the impression of being lower in pitch 

 than they really are. On the other hand, the addition of over- 

 tones gives life, richness, brilliancy, and variety to the sounds, 

 and raises the impression of pitch. "f Throughout this last 

 spring, whenever I was able to get into the country, I carried a 

 tuning-fork, and never ceased to be struck by the miserable tone 

 of the fork when compared with the voice of the bird. The 

 "timbre" of a tuning-fork, after the preliminary discordant 

 "buzz," is very thin and uninteresting. "As compared with 

 a pianoforte note of the same pitch, the fork-tone is wanting in 

 richness and vivacity, and produces an impression of greater 

 depth, so that one is at first inclined to think that the fork 

 employed must be an octave too low."J 



This last quotation indicates my belief as to the cause of 

 deception. Whether the pitch of the Cuckoo's voice is tested 



- ;: ' Sound and Music,' by Sedley Taylor, 3rd ed. p. 87. 



f ' Philosophy of Music,' by W. Pole, F.E.S. (1879), p. 45. 



I ' Sound and Music,' p. 101. 



2 d 2 



