LIBRARY or THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 2. / 'Received M^Ct^ > ifyfr ^Ct^ J/ BIOLOGY Accession No. 7 / frtf 3 Claxs No. I WOOD NOTES WILD NOTATIONS OF BIRD MUSIC BY SIMEON PEASE CHENE AUTHOR OF THE "AMERICAN SINGING-BOOK" MAY COLLECTED AND ARRANGED WITH APPENDIX, NOTES, BIBLIOGRAPHY, AND GENERAL INDEX BY JOHN VANCE CHENEY AUTHOR OF THE "GOLDEN GUESS" (ESSAYS ON POETRY), "THISTLE- DRIFT" (POEMS), "WOOD BLOOMS" (POEMS), ETC BOSTON LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 10 MILK ST. NEXT "THE OLD SOUTH MEETING HOUSB" 1892 Copyright, 1891, BY LEE AND SHEPARD. All rights reserved. WOOD NOTES WILD. 7 / r a 3 toitoctsitg JOHN WILSON AND SON, CAMBRIDGI BIOLOGY UBRAHV Now blessings on ye all, ye heroic race, Who keep their primitive powers and rights so Though men and angels fell. Of all material lives the highest place To you is justly given, And ways and walks the nearest heaven. COWLBY. Whose household words are songs in many keys, Sweeter than instrument of man e'er caught ; Whose habitations in the tree-tops even Are half-way houses on the road to heaven. LONGFELLOW. I have often reflected with surprise on the diversity of the means for producing music with insects, and still more with birds. We thus get a high idea of the importance of song in the animal kingdom. DARWIN. Many kyndes of voyces are in the world, ande none off them with- out significacion. Tyndall's trans, of 2 COR. xiv. 10. EDITOK'S PEEFACE. THIS collection of New England bird-songs was begun when the author was in his sixty-seventh year, and left unfinished when, the tenth of May, 1890, he passed suddenly away, being two years beyond his threescore and ten. It is a record of the pastime of an old lover of the birds, of a musician who counted it among his chief joys that he had lived thirty summers in a bird-haunted grove, of one to whom the voices of the wood and field were as familiar as those of his own family. The inten- tion was to write a book for the young people of New England, many of whom he had taught the rudiments of vocal music. The volume was to be made up of bird- songs and observations on the domestic animals, with special reference to their several forms of utterance. Some- thing was also to be said of the music of inanimate things. The thought came too late ; and it remains for the present writer not unacquainted with his father's work and wishes to gather together such fragments as were to be found. Brief, imperfect as the record is, it may yet have value if, written without apprenticeship in the endeavors of exact knowledge, it accord here and there with the conclusions Vi EDITOR'S PREFACE. of science. Strange as it may seem in one that loved Nature so well, the author read but four authorities on the birds, Audubon, Wilson, the first part of Stearns's "New England Bird Life," edited by Dr. Coues, and Minot's " Land and Game Birds of New England ; " and none of these were taken up until more than half the work here presented was done. The position is individual, iso- lated ; hence it has been thought advisable to prepare an appendix of expression from those more or wholly at home in the delightful field through which our author strolled, when the mood was on, innocently absorbed, oblivious to the brilliant company before him and on either side. Pliny tells how, by mixing the blood of certain birds, a serpent was produced, which eaten of, enabled one to un- derstand what the birds said ; and it is possible that this old simple-hearted, rustic singing-master nibbled deeply enough into the inspiring serpent to interest not only the lover of natural things but those with whom it was not his lot to mingle, his learned contemporaries. At any rate, he has spoken in his own native way, and his brief message may be audible, if for no other reason, be- cause of the " over-faint quietness " both here and abroad. While wanting certain accessory qualifications for his pleasure-task, our author had this prime requisite, music was as natural to him, had as much meaning for him, as words. Sound was as much to him as sight. It was his habit to name the pitch, and to dwell on the quality, of any sound he might hear from things animate or inanimate. His test of a poem was the EDITOR'S PREFACE. vii character of the tones it set ringing in his mind. Music was the standard. In addition to this, and hardly less important, his heart and brain were full of youth and enthusiasm; he stood to the last before both man and Nature, decided in his likes and dislikes, hearty in his love and hatred, eager and joyous and wayward as a boy. " My threescore and ten are numbered," he writes on his birthday, " but for the life of me I can't feel old, can't think old." Such, in a word, was the reporter of the " Wood Notes Wild ; " and the only justification of his work that he cared to make was characteristically simple, "A little bird told me so." As before stated, it has been sought, by means of an appendix, to supplement the record of the birds the songs of which are presented, and to point to such information on the general subject of bird music as might prove acces- sible, the matter being drawn from both scientific and popular sources. Few supplementary notations of bird songs appear, for the reason that they are not easy to find. Indeed, two hundred letters sent to ornithologists and librarians of this country and of Europe, in addition to no little personal research, indicate that there are not many such notations in existence. Dr. F. Granauer, of K. K. Universitats-Bibliothek, Vienna, writes that none are to be found in that library either in books or peri- odicals; while Dr. Golz, of Berlin, writes: "What your Audubon, Wilson, and others say with reference to the bird-songs has not been excelled in Germany. What we have is in Brehm's 'Gefangene Vogel.'" Brehm's work contains no notations. viii EDITOR'S PREFACE. Librarian F. Thomae, University Library of Tubingen, writes that the only work on bird music known to him is Landois's " Thierstimmen." Dr. Euss, of Berlin, writes a little more encouragingly, saying that there are a few notations of bird-songs scattered through " Die gefiederte Welt," a periodical at present under his direction. After this report from music-loving, nature-loving, studious Germany, there is little hope of help elsewhere. The editor, no more of an ornithologist and much less of a musician than the author, cannot hope that he has steered clear of error; he hopes only for the general judgment that the work were better done crudely than not at all. A most grateful acknowledgment is made to the many authors, editors, publishers, and proprietors whose names appear, in connection with their several contributions, in the index and in the list at the end of the volume. JOHN VANCE CHENEY. SAN FRANCISCO, December 29, 1891. FACSIMILE AND TRANSCRIPT. I 3 4 i a 1' I I !i I i 1 ^ 9 bo .r a? o If o 5 a CQ c3 O d 1 JS a .a .s a CONTENTS. PAGE INTRODUCTION 1 BLUEBIRD (Sialia sialis) 11 ROBIN (Turdus migratorius) 14 SONG-SPARROW (Melospiza melodia) 23 CHICKADEE (Parus atricapillus) 27 WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH (Sitta Carolinensis) .... 29 GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER ; FLICKER (Colaptes auratus) 30 MEADOW LARK (Sturnella magnet) 33 FIELD SPARROW (Spizella pusilla) 35 LINNET; PURPLE FINCH; PURPLE GROSBEAK (Carpodacus purpureus) 37 YELLOW-BIRD ; AMERICAN GOLDFINCH (CJirysomitris tristis) 39 CHIPPING SPARROW {Spizella socialis) 40 WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (Zonotrichia albicollis) ... 42 FOX-COLORED SPARROW (Passerella iliaca) 44 CHEWINK ; TOWHEE BUNTING ; GROUND ROBIN (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) 45 YELLOW WARBLER (Dendroica cestiva) 47 BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER (Dendroica virens) . 48 AMERICAN WARBLERS (Sylmcolidce) 49 REDSTART (Setophaga ruticilld) 51 CAT-BIRD (Mimus Carolinensis) 52 BROWN THRUSH ; BROWN THRASHER (HarporJiynchus rufus) 54 WOOD THRUSH; SONG THRUSH (Turdus mustelinus) ... 56 xiv CONTENTS. PAGE TAWNY THRUSH; WILSON'S THRUSH; VEERY (Turdus fuscescens) 58 HERMIT THRUSH (Turdus pallasi) 59 OVEN-BIRD ; GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR (Seiurus auro- capillus) 62 WOOD-PEWEE (Contopus virens) 64 THE NIGHT-HAWK (Chordeiles Virginianus) 66 WHIPPOORWILL (Antrostomus vociferus) 68 BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Icterus Baltimore) 71 SCARLET TANAGER (Pyranga rubrd) 74 ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (Goniaphea Ludoviciand) ... 76 RED-EYED VIREO ( Vireo olivaceus) 78 YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (Icteria viridis) 79 BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) 82 INDIGO-BIRD (Cyanospiza cyanea) 85 BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccygus erythrophthalmus) ... 87 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccygus Americanus) .... 89 QUAIL ; BOB WHITE (Ortyx Virginianus) 90 RUFFED GROUSE; PARTRIDGE; PHEASANT (Bonasa umbellus) 92 GREAT NORTHERN DIVER ; LOON (Colymbus torquatus) . . 95 GREAT HORNED OWL (Bubo Virginianus) 98 MOTTLED OWL; SCREECH-OWL (Scops asio) 100 HEN Music 104 APPENDIX 113 VARIOUS NOTATIONS OF THE Music OF NATURE . . 205 BIBLIOGRAPHY 229 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS , .... 241 INDEX 245 INTEODUCTIOlSr. OOME six years ago, when I began to prepare this **** little collection of the songs of the more common birds of New England, I anticipated many difficulties; and they have been realized. The singing season is brief, and no one locality will suffice. Again, when one is so fortunate as to find a bird long sought, he may not sing ; and if he does, the next moment he may fly beyond hearing or finding. Besides, it requires several repeti- tions of a song to insure accuracy in the copy ; and the song of to-day may be so varied to-morrow as to be hardly recognizable. Another difficulty, well worthy of mention, is the newness of the field. At the time I took down my first song I had no knowledge of any person in America who had made the attempt ; and thus far I have found no hint that has been of service to me. Fifty years' experience as a singing-master has taught me that there is nothing people think so much of, pay so much money for, and still know so little about, as music. *Most emphatically may this, save the money clause, be affirmed of the music of Nature. However thoroughly i 2 WOOD NOTES WILD. the birds are considered in every other point, when we come to their music, that is, to the very life, the spirit, we must take our choice between silence and error. A modern English writer says, for example, " There is no music in Nature, neither melody nor harmony." What is melody but a succession of simple sounds dif- fering in length and pitch? How then can it be said that bird-songs are not melodies ? And if melodies, that they are not music ? A melody may be of greater or less length. I think we shall find that the little bird-songs are melodies, containing something of all we know of melody, and more too; and this in most ex- quisite forms. The writer just quoted observes further that " the cuc- koo, who often sings a true third and sometimes a sharp third or even a fourth, is the nearest approach to music in Nature." I am not sure how it is in England, but with us the cuckoo's skill is slight for so wide a reputa- tion. Of all the songs of our birds, his song has per- haps the least melody. It is as monotonous as it is protracted, hugging the tonic all the way, save an occa- sional drop of a minor second, the smallest interval in our scale. The cuckoo of New England never sings a third of any kind. "No music in Nature"! The very mice sing; the toads, too; and the frogs make "music on the waters." The summer grass about our feet is alive with little musicians. WOOD NOTES WILD. 3 " The songs of Nature never cease, Her players sue not for release. In nearer fields, on hills afar, Attendant her musicians are : From water brook or forest tree, For aye comes gentle melody, The very air is music blent An universal instrument." Even inanimate things have their music. Listen to the water dropping from a faucet into a bucket partially filled: r r \ r ra Or.fr cj u r L r r r r I have been delighted with the music of a door as it swung lazily on its hinges, giving out charming tones resembling those of a bugle in the distance, forming pleasing melodic strains, interwoven with graceful slides 4 WOOD NOTES WILD. and artistic touches worthy of study and imitation. Awakened by the fierce wind of a winter night, I have heard a common clothes-rack whirl out a wild melody in the purest intervals: " No music in Nature " ! Surely the elements have never kept silence since this ball was set swinging through infinite space in tune with the music of the spheres. Their voices were ever sounding in combative strains, through fire and flood, from the equator to the poles, innumerable ages before the monsters of sea and earth added their bellowings to the chorus of the uni- verse. From the hugest beast down to the smallest insect, each creature with its own peculiar power of sound, we come, in their proper place, upon the birds, not in their present dress of dazzling beauty, and singing their matchless songs, but with immense and uncouth bodies perched on two long, striding legs, with voices to match those of many waters and the roar of the tempest. We know that in those monstrous forms were hidden the springs of sweet song and the germs of beautiful plumage; but who can form any idea of the slow processes, of the long, long periods of time that Nature has taken in her progressive work from the first rude effort up to the present perfection ? So far as the song is concerned, the hoarse thunderings of the elements, the bellowings of the monsters of both land and water, the voices of things animate and inanimate, all must be forced, age on to WOOD NOTES WILD. 5 age, through her grand music crucible, and the precious essence given to the birds. Though the birds expressed themselves vocally ages before there were human ears to hear them, it is hardly to be supposed that their early singing bore much resem- blance to the bird music of to-day. It is not at all likely that on some fine morning, too far back for reckoning, the world was suddenly and for the first time flooded with innumerable bird songs, and that ever since birds have sung as they then sang and as they sing now. There were no reporters to tell us when the birds began to sing, but the general history of human events chronicles the interest with which birds and bird-singing have been regarded by the nations of the past, leaving us to infer that when men and birds became acquainted, the birds were already singing. It would seem, then, that our bird music is a thing of growth, and of very slow growth. The tall walkers and squawkers having gradually acquired the material ma- chinery for song, and the spirit of song being pent up within them, they were ultimately compelled to make music, to sing. Dare we hazard a few crude conjectures as to the details of this growth ? Every musical student is aware that there are certain tones which, if produced at the same moment, harmonize, merge one into another, with most pleasing effect. Our scale of eight tones represents the order of intervals throughout the whole realm of 6 WOOD NOTES WILD. sound ; and the most natural combination of tones in it is the common chord, consisting of three tones, one, three, and five, forming two intervals, a major third and a minor third, which together make a fifth. These three tones are more readily appreciated by the uneducated ear than the regular order of tones in the scale. Players on the old- fashioned keyless bugles could play them, with their octaves perhaps, and nothing else; and boys can play them on long dry milk-weed stalks. I have been sur- prised at the readiness with which dull-eared boys learn to tune the strings of a violin, which are the interval of a fifth apart, while they are slow to determine the inter- vening tones. One and five of the scale, then, have the strongest affinity, the one for the other, of any two tones in it. Now, after the "flight of ages," when the birds had emerged from the state of monstrosity, each raw singer having chanted continuously his individual tonic, there came a time when they must take a long step forward and enter the world of song. In the vast multitude of feathered creatures there must have been an endless variety of forms and sizes, and a proportionate variety in the pitch and quality of their voices. Day to day, year to year, each bird had heard his fellows squall, squawk, screech, or scream their individual tones, till in due time he detected here and there in the tremen- dous chorus certain tones that had a special affinity for his own. This affinity, strengthened by endless repeti- tions, at last made an exchange of tones natural and easy. Suppose there were two leading performers, the key of WOOD NOTES WILD. 7 one being G, and the key of the other being D, a fifth above G, what could have been more natural than for these two voices to unite, either on D or G, or both, and to vibrate into one ? This accomplished, the bondage of monotony and chaos was broken forever, and progress assured; the first strain of the marvellous harmony of the future was sounded, the song of the birds was begun. One can almost hear those rude, rising geniuses exercising their voices with increased fervor, vibrating from one to five and five to one of the scale, pushing on up the glad way of liberty and melody. With each vibration from one to five and from five to one, the leading tone of the scale, the other member of the common chord, which so affinitizes with one and five, was passed over. The next step was to insert this tone, which being done, the em- ployment of the remaining tones was simply a matter of time. So it was, to my notion, that the birds learned to sing. To say that the music of the birds is similar in struc- ture to our own, is not to say that they use no intervals less than our least. They do this, and I am well aware that not all of their music can be written. Many of their rhythmical and melodic performances are difficult of comprehension, to say nothing of committing them to paper. The song of the bobolink is an instance in point. Indeed, one cannot listen to any singing-bird without hearing something inimitable and indescribable. Who shall attempt a description of the tremolo in the song of the meadow lark, the graceful shading and sliding of the tones of the thrushes ? But these ornaments, be 8 WOOD NOTES WILD. they never so profuse, are not the sum and substance of. bird-songs ; and it is in the solid body of the song that we find the relationship to our own music. The songs of many of the birds may be detected as readily as the mel- odies of " Ortonville " and " Kock of Ages." In passing, one morning last summer, I heard a chewink sing the first strain of the beautiful old conference-meeting tune last named. Though I have never heard any other chewink sing that strain, it was a chewink that sang then, afford- ing startling proof of the variation in the singing of the same birds. The chickadees sing a few long tones in the most deliberate manner ; and nothing this side of heaven is purer. I do not refer to their chick-a-dee-dee-dee chat, though they sometimes connect that with their singing. The chickadee and the wood-pewee have the most devout of all the bird-songs I have heard. We all know how moderately and distinctly the little whistling, white-throated sparrow sings his song, and how the tiny black-throated green warbler sends out his few white notes of cheer from among the dark pines. Conjecture as we may concerning the growth and de- velopment of birds and bird-songs, we know that the birds now sing in a wonderful manner, using all the intervals of the major and minor scales in perfection of intonation, with a purity of voice and finish of execution, with an exquisiteness of melody, a magnetic and spiritual charm appurtenant to no other music on earth. The horse neighs, the bull bellows, the lion roars, the tiger WOOD NOTES WILD. 9 growls, the world is full of vocal sounds; only the birds sing. They are Nature's finest artists, whose lives and works are above the earth. They have not learned of us; it is our delight to learn of them. To no other living things are man's mind and heart so greatly in- debted. Myriads of these beautiful creatures, journeying thousands of miles over oceans and continents, much of the way by night to avoid murderers ! return, unfail- ing as the spring, prompt even to the day and hour, to build their cunning nests and rear their young in our orchards and door-yards, to delight us with their beauty and grace of movement, and above, far above, all, to pour over the world the glory of their song. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. BLUEBIKD. STAT.TA SIAUS. OUK first two spring visitors are the bluebird and the robin, the bluebird invariably coming first. The following are the principal features of the blue- bird's songs as I took them, from time to time, last season. Early on the morning of the 17th of March my ear caught his first far, faint, but sweet notes. 1 * ^ * Hear me, hear me. The weather was cold, and I heard no more for several days ; but on the morning of the 25th one made bold to come into the orchard, where he appeared to feel quite at home. Though it was still cold, his pure, soft notes held me within hearing for half an hour, during which time some of his morning talk (the music of a bluebird is often quite as much like talking as like singing) was secured. U -LI 12 WOOD NOTES WILD. The next morning I heard him sing simply, 3. Che- way che-chute. The morning of the 28th being rainy, I feared I should see no birds, but by 9 o'clock the clouds began to vanish, and suddenly there were three species within four rods of my window, a flock of snow-birds, a white-breasted nut- hatch, and the bluebird. The latter lit upon the stump of a small plum-tree, when white-breast lit upon the side of the stump and began to dart up and down and around, below him. The bluebird was evidently puzzled at his friend's eccentric movements. Shifting quickly from point to point, he would peer over in a very quizzical and comical manner, as much as to say, " How do you do that ? " It was a pretty pantomime ; and though no music was added to my notes, I was grateful for the call. When the silent birds took to the air and left me alone again, I could not but exclaim, " How beautiful are birds, and where is the match for the blue of the bluebird!" Thus far the bluebird sang in the key of D minor. I afterward heard him sing in several keys, as here represented : WOOD NOTES WILD. 13 g^V^-s In these examples, the bluebird uses the minor key altogether: we have him in four positions of it. The fact that he sings in the minor key may partly explain the tenderness characterizing his song ; but undoubtedly the plaintive quality of his tone is the more important factor. The written songs of the bluebird and the robin might lead one to conclude that their performance would produce much the same effect, but on hearing them the contrast is striking. KOBIN. TURDUS MIGBATORIUS. LAST season the robin was five days behind the blue- bird. The first note I heard from him proved him a magician; the sound of his voice, filling the air with joy, spread a glow of instantaneous happiness over the morning landscape. Perched on the topmost twig of a tall maple, I had only time to lift my hat when he saluted me with, This he repeated two or three times with martial ardor and precision ; then with his parting ^T==f-. Lit, lit, lit, lit, lit. and with a flirt of his tail at each note, he left the grove. He flew high, scorning the earth, and did not return till evening. Then he did not sing ; it was only, Lit, lit, lit, leu, leu. WOOD NOTES WILD. 15 The effect was that of a call, but there was no answer. Soon he called again louder, with more rapid notes, giving another interval : C C C Lit, lit, lit, lit, lit, leu, leu, leu. The next morning he again appeared on the same twig, and called, " Lit, lit, lit," to which a bluebird promptly responded, Chee - oo - wy, chee - oo - wy. and a nuthatch rattled away merrily at them both, i Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, t4-^-^-H ? =c=E=j=B == r = r = l wait, wait, wait. Ick - y, ick - y, ick - y. Some two weeks passed before the morning songs proper began, my first record being made May 5. On that morn- ing before light, I was out, and within a few feet of a robin that struck up his song in a small pear-tree, not more than ten feet from the ground. On this occasion I settled one point ; namely, that the robin frequently sings other notes than those heard. He has a habit of, as it were, closing his mouth between strains, and making muffled, indistinct tones an imperfect echo, or better, 16 WOOD NOTES WILD. a burlesque repetition. The effect is humorous; for he seems to be shyly ridiculing his performance as he goes along, for his own private enjoyment. This after- effort, not intended for the public, is usually pitched at the top of his voice, so high that his voice often breaks, when the result is truly ludicrous. I am convinced that many times when we think the robin is resting between strains, he is busying himself in the manner described. His song on this occasion ran, 2. Another song at daybreak. May 6, at 4 P. M., there were signs of rain, and red- breast seemed to be unusually inspired. He sang with great spirit, While at my work, May 8, I heard him introducing WOOD NOTES WILD. 17 new " kinks " in his vocal twistings. He repeated them many times, almost to tiresomeness. They were, 4. The morning of the 14th opened rainy, but the drops did not stop the concert of the birds. On putting my head out to catch the first of it, a pewee was singing, Pe - wee, pe - wee. and a robin defied the shower in good set terms : i '/! Whether he meant to sing in E major or minor, I did not decide. May 23 I was awake before 2 o'clock A. M., and all was still ; not even a frog peeped. At the first faint com- ing of light the rooster crowed; and in about half an hour I heard the first bird-notes, the robin's. At this hour the robin does not burst into full song, but begins with a subdued twitter, which rapidly opens and attunes his throat for the splendid moment when, yielding him- self to the fresh gladness, he puts forth all his power. The present performance was in a little maple close by my window, where, undoubtedly, he had spent the night. His song was, 2 18 WOOD NOTES WILD. === There is no mistake about this being in the major key, and a bit of choice melody. Delivered, as it was, with delightful animation, the effect was cheering to the last degree. Other voices joined, and immediately there was a grand chorus, in which, much to my amusement, the frogs and toads, silent up to this time, took a lively part, not to be outdone by the whole choiring hosts of orioles, catbirds, pewees, sparrows, and other feathered rivals. The only fault with the performance was its brevity ; in a few minutes all was silent as before. The robin sings more hours than almost any other bird. His songs are short and he repeats them many times, but he is by no means stereotyped in his forms ; indeed, he is fair at extemporizing when the mood takes him. A com- mendable variety will be discovered in the annexed melodies. 7. WOOD NOTES WILD. 12, June 5, 4 P. M. 19 14. June 19, A. M. Before rain. 18. 20 WOOD NOTES WILD. 1 E-J E 20. Signal for flight. Chick -y ick-y chick -y eu, Chick -y ick-y chick-y eu. 21. Sept. ai, cold and rainy. ^ f P C" C r C * E E " ^ b ^ +=* lEtr-tr-S- oe, oe, oe, up, up, up. From these examples it will be seen that bird-music is akin to our own; the same intervals are used, those of 'the major and minor keys. No. 7 brings to mind the first half of an old melody sung by the spinning-girls fifty years ago, as a substitute for counting, while reeling yarn : All a - long, all a - long, all a - long, all s - long, j j J 1 all long, all long link turn loo. WOOD NOTES WILD. 21 Who is the plagiarist? The majority of singing-birds make free use of triplets ; the robins abound in them. They are generally separated by brief rests ; but in some instances two or three triplets are given without rests, as in Nos. 13 and 16. The robins sing throughout the summer, their in- cessant repetitions frequently becoming tiresome. They take the lead at the opening of the season, and hold it. Every morning they begin the concert, and are the prin- cipal performers ; indeed, they seem to feel competent to make up the entire choir, if necessary. They are by no. means our best singers, but were we deprived of them, we should miss their songs more than those of any other bird. They are the most social and domestic of all the migrating birds, belonging to the farm almost as much as do the hens and chickens. They come early and stay late; and after they are supposed to be gone for good, if you have a nice mountain ash, hanging thick with clusters of beautiful red berries, the very gem of all outdoor ornaments at this season, some very windy day a cloud of robins will swoop down upon it, when nothing will save it. In mitigation of his offence, I am willing to believe that the robin does not think himself a robber, but simply a high-handed taker of what he has earned by long service of song, the " provender of praise." September 21, a cold, rainy day, when no other bird was to be seen, I heard a robin exclaim, ^ Q * 1 m I '/^ J ^ In ItiP E E " t ^^ p f n C -C | H 22 WOOD NOTES WILD. He spoke with much decision and independence, as much as to say, " I am alone, but can take care of my- self I" It is a point worth noticing that the farewell of the robin is very similar in style to his first salute in the spring. The last I saw of the robins they were collecting, at early morning, in the small trees and bushes about a pond near the grove. Very brisk, both in voice and movement, their main notes were : SONG-SPARROW. MELOSPIZA MELODIA. sparrow family is a large one. There may be twenty species, half of which, at least, spend the summer in New England. The song-sparrows are the most numerous; they sing the most, and exhibit the greatest variety of melody. Standing near a small pond recently, I heard a song-sparrow sing four distinct songs within twenty minutes, repeating each several times. r r f I have more than twenty songs of this sparrow, and have heard him in many other forms. He generally gives a fine trill at the beginning or end of his song. Sometimes, however, it is introduced in the middle, and 24 WOOD NOTES WILD. occasionally is omitted, especially in the latter part of the season. There is a marked difference in the quality and volume of the voices of different individuals. Dur- ing the season of 1885 I listened almost daily to the strongest and best sparrow voice that I have ever heard. There was a fulness and richness, particularly in the trills, that reminded one of the bewitching tones of the wood-thrush. These are some of his songs: WOOD NOTES WILD. 25 It will not do to say that the singers of any species sing exactly alike, with the same voice and style, and always in the same key. There is a wide difference between the singing of old and young birds. This is 26 WOOD NOTES WILD. especially true of the oriole, the tanager, and the bobolink. The voice of a bird four years old is very much fuller and better than that of a yearling ; just as his plumage is deeper and richer in color. The song- sparrow comes soon after the bluebird and the robin, and sings from the time of his coming till the close of summer. Unlike his cousin, the field-sparrow, he seems to seek the companionship of man. Sitting near an open window one day last summer, as was my habit, my attention was attracted by the singing of a song-sparrow perched upon a twig not far away. Fancy- ing that he addressed himself to me individually, I re- sponded with an occasional whistle. He listened with evident interest, his head on one side and his eye rolled up. For many days in succession he came at about the same hour in the afternoon, and perching in the same place sang his cheery and varied songs, listening in turn to my whistles. CHICKADEE. PAEUS ATBICAPILLUS. IT was a fortunate meeting of extremes when Emerson found the titmouse in the winter forest, for he went home and put his little friend on paper so surely that he can never fly away : " Here was this atom in full breath, Hurling defiance at vast death ; This scrap of valor just for play Fronts the north wind in waistcoat gray, As if to shame my weak behavior." The chickadees make very free with us in frosty weather ; coming about our homes, they help themselves without question. If driven from the bit of meat hung up to "keep" in the cold, they utter a few " chick-a-dee-dee- dees," and fall to again as if nothing had happened. The " chickadee " notes, however, are their chat, not their song, though sometimes the song immediately follows. One clear, cold March morning before sunrise, I was greeted with two tones, Ear - They thrilled me; never were purer tones heard on earth. Presently they were repeated, when I discovered 28 WOOD NOTES WILD. a pair of chickadees on a limb of a small tree. The song came from one of them ; and when he shot up and away, he left me with a new understanding of the value of purity of tone. Nearly all small birds sing rapidly, too rapidly for appreciative hearing ; but this little song- ster somehow has found out that one pure minim is worth a whole strain of staccato demi-semi-quavers. The chickadees sometimes employ a delightful form of response in their singing : WHITE-BELLIED NUTHATCH. SITTA CAEOLINENSIS. THIS is the bird that stays with us, clings to his native woods ; summer and winter he is at home. During one long, very cold winter a member of this family was one of my most intimate, constant, and im- portant friends. No degree of cold could daunt him. Early in the morning his sharp, rapid, merry notes would lend life to the grove: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, # c c c *-t- g i nf^^ Wait, wait, wait. Ick y, ick - y, ick GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER; FLICKER. COLAPTES AUEATUS. THE loud, monotonous vocalizing of this handsome bird is hardly song ; still we often hear it said, " The woodwall is singing, we are going to have rain." The two-toned " rain-call " is his song, if he have one. The performance is long enough for a song, but rather narrow. Ores Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, do. dim In -e-E C E E=C 6 fe Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, .... en - - - - 'do. 6 C E C C C E C Wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet, wet. If the cuckoo, whose song is so famous, can be called a singer, this woodpecker is a songster; for he performs WOOD NOTES WILD. 31 oftener, longer, and louder, than the cuckoo, using the same melodic variety of a minor second, which is the least possible. The golden-wings are geniuses at a frolic. When two or more of them are together they have a brisk chase of it round and up the trunks of the great trees and out on the big limbs, crying, =P=*t g ^ g ^=fcJEB Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up. We have no true singing-bird so large as this wood- pecker. The bright hues of the tanager and the oriole may attract the eye quicker than his, but no other of our birds displays the whole world of color in every conceivable combination. These birds are frequenters of meadows and pastures ; they like to be on the ground and to dig in it. When they rise, they swing away through the air in great billowy lines of indescribable grace. Wilson takes much pains in describing the ingenuity and perseverance of these birds in digging out their nests. " I have seen," he says, " where they have dug first five inches straight forward, and then downward more than twice that dis- tance, through a solid black oak." He further states that they work " till a very late hour in the evening, thumping like carpenters;" also that "the male and female work alternately." The golden-winged woodpecker has many surprises in store for them that do not know him. It will be some- 32 WOOD NOTES WILD. what startling when he simply calls the roll of his names : Golden-winged Woodpecker. Harry Wicket. High Hole. Flicker. WoodwalL Hittock. Yucker. Piut Wake-Up. Yarrup. Yellow Hammer. The natives about Hudson's Bay call him Ou-thee- quan-nor-ow. MEADOW LAKK. STTJRNELLA MAGNA. LIKE the partridge, the meadow lark has favorite places of resort, where he stands and sings or keeps silent, as the mood takes him. His flight also resembles that of the partridge and of the quail. Prob- ably our largest singing-bird, his voice is neither loud nor deep, some of the tones being rather sharp and weak. He lacks the vocal power of the robin, and of the oriole, a bird of not more than half his size; still his music is very charming. Wilson, comparing him with the skylark, says, "In richness of plumage, as well as sweetness of voice (as far as his few notes extend), he stands eminently his superior." The meadow lark's song is essentially tender and plain- tive. In the early dewy morning and toward evening, he will stand a long time upon a stump, a large rock, or rock-heap, singing at intervals little snatches of melody ; occasionally, like the oriole and the king-fisher, giving his " low, rapid, chattering " monotones. It is a favorite pastime with him to repeat four tones many times in succession, with rests intervening: 34 WOOD NOTES WILD. Sometimes he will add to them : These fragmentary strains, when connected, form an original and interesting song. Now and then there is an exquisite, subtile tremor in the tones of this singer, no more to be described than the odor of a rose. It somewhat resembles that in the tones of the Wilson thrush as he trembles along down to the close of his quivering, silvery song. Song of the meadow lark : F n g " I I I P *=* i c FIELD-SPARROW. SPIZELLA PTJSILLA. THIS sparrow, less common than the song or the chipping sparrow, resembles these in appearance and habits. He is not so social, preferring the fields and pastures and bushy lots. When Wilson wrote, " None of our birds have been more imperfectly described than the family of the finch tribe usually called sparrows," he wrote well ; but when he wrote of this one, " It has no song," he brought himself under his own criticism. And when Dr. Coues, on the contrary, describes him as- " very melodious, with an extensive and varied score to sing from," and further, as possessing " unusual compass of vocal powers," he much better describes the song sparrow. The field sparrow is surely a fine singer, and he may have several songs. I have heard him in one only; but that one, though short, it would be hard to equal. As a scientific composition it stands nearly if not quite alone. Dr. Coues quotes Mr. Minot on the singing of this bird. "They open with a few exquisitely modu- lated whistles, each higher and a little louder than the preceding, and close with a sweet trill." The song does begin with two or three well-separated tones, or " whistles," if you please, but I discover no mod- ulation, nor is each higher than the preceding, the open- 36 WOOD NOTES WILD. ing tones being on the same pitch. However, the song increases, both in power and rapidity, from beginning to end. It by no means requires " unusual compass," simply the interval of a minor third. When we consider the genius displayed in combining so beautifully the three grand principles of sound, length, pitch, and power, its brevity and limited com- pass make it all the more wonderful. Scarcely anything in rhythmics and dynamics is more difficult than to give a perfect accelerando and crescendo ; and the use of the chromatic scale by which the field sparrow rises in his lyric flight involves the very pith of melodic ability. This little musician has explored the whole realm of sound, and condensed its beauties in perfection into one short song. Ores- - cen ... Accelerando el crescendo. LINNET; PUEPLE FINCH; PUEPLE GEOSBEAK. CABPODACTJS PUBPUKEUS. THE linnet (this is the popular name) is a very spirited and charming singer, especially during the mating season. A careful observer tells me he has seen him fly from the side of his mate directly upward fifteen or twenty feet, singing every instant in the most excited manner till he dropped to the point of starting. The yellow-breasted chat has a like performance, and so has the woodcock. The linnet's style of singing is a warble, but his song is not short like the songs of the warblers; it is often a protracted extemporizing, difficult to represent. Some of the notes of the linnet: Rapid and spirited. 38 WOOD NOTES WILD. The linnet has been described as " red " and also as "purple," but really he seems to be neither. He has a reddish back and neck, and his head is almost red. The female has no red in her complexion. The linnets are social, building in our orchards, oftener in the evergreens. They are kind and peaceful birds, yet ever ready to avenge an insult to the death. The males do not reach their full plumage till the second or third year. If caged, after the first moulting in their confinement the wild colors do not return; the reddish tint is exchanged for a yellowish cast, and so remains. YELLOW-BIRD; AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. CHRYSOMITBIS TKISTIS. THE yellow-birds, frequenters of our door-yards and gardens, are of all birds the gentlest-mannered. "With their heads crowned with black caps, their yellow bodies, black wings and tails, they are dainty, high-bred visitors. When singing in chorus, as is their habit, their soft warblings are expressive of great delight. In their most characteristic song, of only four notes, they are stronger- voiced, singing with distinctness and moderation. This song is performed while on the wing, and is all the more charming because of the touch of sadness that it has for the sensitive listener. The flight of the yellow- birds follows the fashion set by the woodpeckers. It is like the riding of a boat over great billows up down up in graceful curves, with a stroke of the wings for each swell, to the accompaniment of the little song, 8m. With sweep and swing from crest to crest, the song runs: CHIPPING SPARROW. SPIZELLA SOCIALIS. THIS trim little bird, one of the least of the spar- rows, is not so great a singer as some others of the family ; but none of them equal him in song devotion. At the close of day he may be heard from the house- top, from the ridge-pole of the barn, from the fence or the grass stubble. Dr. Coues says he has " at times a song quite different from the sharp, monotonous trill so characteristic of spring-time," and without doubt he has ; but the monotonous " trill," being a succession of rapid tones upon the same degree, can hardly be called a "trill." Chip - py, chip - py, chip - py, chip - py, chip - py, Chip - py, chip - py, chip - py, chip - py, chip - py, chip - py. To look at these notes, it would seem impossible that any performance of them could be made acceptable ; the hearing of them, however, relieved by the delicate accent WOOD NOTES WILD. 41 and fervor of the singer, never fails to touch the heart of the listener. The chipping sparrow sings at all hours, sometimes waking in the dead of night to perform his staccato serenade; but the evening twilight hour is his favorite time. If we have a vesper sparrow, it is he. None of our birds are more social and confiding. These sparrows come for the crumbs about the door, and with little coaxing will light on your hand for them ; and if there be vines over the doorway, you will be quite likely to find the lady's nest in them, maybe only a few inches above your head as you go in and out. They prefer a bush for their summer home, but I have sev- eral times known them to build their beautiful hair-lined nests in a heavy-boughed spruce, ten or more feet from the ground. WHITE-THKOATED SPAEEOW. ZONOTKICHIA ALBICOLLIS. 1 ^AMILIAR as the song of this bird is, few listeners * suspect that it is sung by a sparrow. In an ex- treme northern town of Vermont, I often heard the song when a boy, but never the name of the singer ; and I have rarely heard him named since. The knowing ones used to say the words of the song were, "All day long fid-dle-in', fid-dle-in', fid-dle-in'." The little twelve-toned melody of this sparrow is a flash of inspiration one of those lucky finds, such as the poets have the charm of which lies in its rhythm. Let us look at it : ^ r r r r T r r r r r r ii First come three long tones of equal length, forming together one-half of the song entire ; then three clusters of three short tones, triplets, each cluster being equal to one of the long tones, and each of the short tones being equal to one third of one of the long tones. How simple the construction for so pleasing a performance I The white-throat sings moderately and with exactness ; singing often, and usually with several of his fellows, WOOD NOTES WILD. 43 each piping away in a key of his own. Heedless of pitch, striking in just as it happens, this independent little songster sometimes finds himself at the top of his voice and at a height of sound rarely reached by any other bird. The whistling quality of the white-throat's voice and his deliberate method make his song very dis- tinct and distinctive. The responsive singing of several performers in the still woods (and out of them some- times), continually introducing new keys, affords a unique entertainment. The form of the song already given is undoubtedly the true one, but I once heard the following variation : Sva. When the season is well advanced, the singers, seem- ingly grown weary of their song, begin to shorten it. At first they omit the last triplets ; further on they drop the second group, then the first group, then the third long note, till finally only the first two long notes remain. There is a touch of the comic in this farewell performance, as though the singer said, " There, you know the rest." FOX-COLORED SPARROW. PASSERELLA ILIACA. " I ^HESE song-loving sparrows have sweet voices and a -* pleasing song. No sparrow sings with a better quality of tone. They reach Massachusetts, on their journey north, generally by the tenth of April. They come in small flocks, tame birds, and partial to the ground. They scratch among the low bushes, often in the fresh snow, rising frequently a few feet to sit and sing ; they also sing upon the ground. They are our largest sparrows ; fine-looking birds, with reddish backs somewhat like those of the brown thrush. Song of the fox-colored sparrow : CHEWESTK; TOWHBE BUNTING; GROUND ROBIN. PIPILO EEYTHEOPHTHALMTTS. THE song of this sprightly, showy bird, as I have heard him, consists of one long, loud tone on E or D, followed by a rather soft trill on the tonic, a sixth higher. The most striking peculiarity of the performance at the first hearing is that unless fortunate enough to see as well as hear the bird, one will be sure there are two singers, one singing the long note and the other the trill : "This species seems to have a special dislike to the sea-coast." So says the close observer, Wilson; but I have found the chewink very much at home at different points close to the sea. This bird, like many others, can extemporize finely when the spirit moves him. For sev- eral successive days, one season, a chewink gave me very interesting exhibitions of the kind. He fairly revelled in the new song, repeating it times without number. Whether he stole it from the first strain of " Kock of Ages " or it was stolen from him or some of his family, is a question yet to be decided. 46 WOOD NOTES WILD. The following is an exact copy of his variation: / 8va. &. Not satisfied with this, after a time he performed still another variation : fSva. Finally he became dissatisfied with his key, and " went up":- ftoa. YELLOW WAEBLER. DENDROICA AESTIVA. THE yellow warbler is a representative character, and taken all in all, is the most interesting of the warblers. He is beautiful, very active, and of engaging manners. Though he may not equal in brilliancy of color the flashing, blushing redstart, he has a charm of his own as he moves rapidly through the green foliage, singing his lively song. If sometimes in the bright sunlight it is almost too sharp, like the ringing of steel, it is the best of songs by the warblers. The yellow warblers are numerous, haunting the orchard, and the garden in city or country. They come early in May and spend the summer, often raising two families. The cow-bird can- not impose on these merry birds as safely as she can on some others ; for the lady of the house is apt to build a deck over the hateful stranger-egg and fasten it down in the hold to hatch and find its hatchway out as best it may. Like the songs of all the warblers, the song of the yel- low warbler is brief and rapid. Though so high, it can be heard many rods : f < < p BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER. DENDROICA VIRENS. THE richly clad black-throats, restless and almost always singing, are nearly as numerous as the yellow warblers. Their song is shorter, five tones, quite as distinct and more moderately delivered. There is something about the little song 8va. E E F that inclines one to whistle it immediately on hearing it. It seems to be given as a lesson, and if the whistler be familiar with the old sea song, "Larboard Watch," he will hardly fail to discover in "Lar - board watch a -hoy!" another instance of the similarity between bird me]ody and human melody. These charming little wide-awakes like the pine woods. There they nest and sing ; but they often visit adjoining farms, coming close to the buildings in the fruit and shade trees. Wherever they chance to be, there is heard the frequent piping of their happy little strain. AMERICAN WAEBLERS. SYLVICOUDAE. numerous little birds denominated warblers are *- none of them great singers, and their several twit- terings have a strong family resemblance. Dr. Coues, who has more than thirty varieties in his list, well re- marks, "Nearly all of our 'warblers/ in fact, are mis- named, if we are to take the term as any indication of proficiency in that kind of vocalization which we com- monly call warbling." Chestnut-sided WARBIJBB. Maryland YELLOW-THROAT. p g NT Songs of other WARBLERS. 8va. 50 m 8va. WOOD NOTES WILD. 8va. Sva. fe c c e c EEDSTART. SETOFHAGA KUTICILLA. RAEE is the bird in our woods as dashing as the redstart. As he runs rapidly along the limbs or makes his short nights in pursuit of insects, he is perpetually spreading his gayly painted tail, shooting flashes of fire among the green leaves. If proud of his plumage, he seems equally proud of his song, brief and monotonous as it is, and borrowed (perhaps) from his cousin, the yellow warbler: ' " 1 CAT-BIKD. MIMUS CAEOLINENSIS. THIS very common bird sings early in the morning and a good part of the day. He has not a strong voice, nor has he really a tune of his own. With some- thing of the style of the brown thrush, he is not his equal in song. The cat-bird is generally considered a mocking-bird. He does make use of the notes of different birds, delivering them in snatchy, disconnected fashion; and his performance, on the whole, is very interesting, given, as it is, in a lively manner, with an occasional tone truly sweet and musical. Much of his singing, how- ever, is mere twitter, often little more than a succession of squeaks, too antic to be put on paper. It is easy to trace in the cat-bird's singing the notes of the red-eyed vireo, the brown thrasher, the bluebird, the robin and the yellow-breasted chat. WOOD NOTES WILD. > b u i 53 ? i E *- C V- The cat-bird is very active and demonstrative, espe- cially if one approach the nest; which is commonly found in low places near a brook, in some thicket of briars or small bushes, or little alders, three or four feet from the ground. The eggs are four or five in number, and blue, very similar to the eggs of the robin. This bird received his name doubtless from -the striking resemblance his common tone bears to certain cries of the cat. The cat-bird seems not to be a general favorite, but surely he is a well-shaped bird, dressed with good taste, too ; and he plays his part well in the every-day drama of bird life. BROWN THRUSH; BROWN THRASHER. HABPOBHYNCHUS KUFUS. THE song of this largest and most joyous of the thrushes exhibits greater variety than that of any other member of his most musical family. Despite a lack of quality in tone, he is one of the favorites; his fame is assured. In exuberance and peculiarity of performance he is unsurpassed, unless it be by the cat- bird. While prone to the conversational style, he is ca- pable of splendid inspiration. Literary folk might term him the "Browning" among birds. On a fine morning in June, when he rises to the branch of a wayside tree, or to the top of a bush at the edge of the pasture, the first eccentric accent convinces us that the spirit of song has fast hold on him. As the fervor increases his long and elegant tail droops; all his feathers separate; his whole plumage is lifted, it floats, trembles; his head is raised and his bill wide open : there is no mistake, it is the power of the god. No pen can report him now ; we must wait till the frenzy passes. Then we may catch such fragments as these : Lively. WOOD NOTES WILD. 55 . c . f > =1 Like other thrushes and the chewink, the brown thrush is much on the ground. He is rather shy, with all his exuberance he sings as if he were keeping something back, but he frequently shows himself in short flights among the bushes and when crossing the road, always flying low. WOOD THRUSH; SONG THKUSH. TTJRDUS MUSTELINTJS. THIS is probably the most popular singer of all the thrushes. He may be heard at any hour of the day during the mating and nesting season, but his best performances are at morning and evening. While his melodies are not so varied as those of the brown or those of the hermit thrush, they are exquisite, the quality of tone being indescribably beautiful and fasci- nating. Chancing to hear him in the edge of the woods at twilight as he sings, in a moment one is oblivious to all else, and ready to believe that the little song is not of earth, but a wander- ing strain from the skies. How is it that a bird has that inimitable voice? Whence his skill in the use of it? Whence the inspiration that, with the utmost refinement, selects and arranges the tones in this scrap of divine melody ? Hark ! i JAM. L"i m h T ' 9 P h r B? c > V. L 1 r r WOOD NOTES WILD. 57 It is a new key, and the rapture is both enhanced and prolonged. 10 o'clock A. M. TAWNY THRUSH; WILSON'S THRUSH; VEERY. TTJEDUS FTJSCESCENS. NOTWITHSTANDING Dr. Coues's silence, and Wilson's statement that this bird has " no song, but a sharp chuck," the tawny thrush is a charming singer. His little song is very beautiful, especially at evening. I think we have no bird that sings so far into the dark; hence his popular title of the "American nightingale." It is particularly difficult to describe his quality of tone. An appreciative woman perhaps nearest indicates its metallic charm when she writes, "It is a spiral, tremulous, silver thread of music." There are eight tones in the song, the last two being on the same pitch as the first two. The beginning is very unusual, the first tone being on the second degree of the scale; and there is no breaking of the delicate " silver thread " from beginning to end : This succession of sounds, so simple to the eye, be- comes, as it is performed, quite intricate to the ear ; some- thing like the sweep of an accordion through the air. The first half of the song is deliberate ; the latter half is slightly hurried. HERMIT THEUSH. TURDUS PALLASI. IN the case of the thrushes, as in other cases, it is not easy to find out from the books "which is which." There is a general resemblance in their voices, in their color, in their nests and eggs. Wilson says of this one, " In both seasons it is mute, having only, in spring, an oc- casional squeak like that of a young, stray chicken." Dr. Coues says, " He is an eminent vocalist." Mr. Flagg holds a similar opinion. After no little research in the books and in the woods, I am obliged to record him not only as the greatest singer among the thrushes, but as the greatest singing-bird of New England. The brown thrush, or "thrasher," the cat-bird, and the bobolink display a wider variety of songs ; the bobolink especially, who sings a long, snatchy song, in a rollicking style alto- gether foreign to that of the hermit thrush. He never indulges in mere merriment, nor is his music sad; it is clear, ringing, spiritual, full of sublimity. The wood- thrush does not excel his hermit cousin in sweetness of voice, while he by no means equals him in spirit and compass. The hermit, after striking his first low, long, and firm tone, startling the listener with an electric thrill, bounds upwards by thirds, fourths, and fifths, and some- 60 WOOD NOTES WILD. times a whole octave, gurgling out his triplets with every upward movement. Occasionally, on reaching the height, the song bursts like a rocket, and the air is full of silver tones. A second flight, and the key changes with a fresh, wild, and enchanting effect. The hermit's constant and apparently indiscriminate modulations or changes of tonic lend a leading charm to his performances. Start from what point he may, it always proves the right one. When he moves off with and then, returning, steps up a degree and follows it with a similar strain, it is like listening to the opening of a grand overture. Does one attempt to steal the enchanter's notes, he is anticipated, and finds himself stolen, heart and all the senses. But it is folly to attempt a description of the music of the thrushes, of the skill and beauty of their styles of singing, and all as vain to try to describe their matchless voices. WOOD NOTES WILD. 61 OVEN-BIRD; GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR. SEIUBTJS AUROCAPILLTJS. HPHE popular name oven-bird, perhaps as appropriate A as any, is derived, doubtless, from the architecture of the nest, which is built on the ground, among old leaves, and roofed over like an oven, with a door on one side. It is so ingeniously constructed that no eye, not even the cow-bird's, is likely to discover it, unless it be by seeing the bird approach or leave it. The oven-bird does not fly from the nest, but runs from it with a most peculiar, light, and graceful step. Wilson says, "The oven-bird has no song; but a shrill, energetic twitter." Other writers pronounce him a great singer; Dr. Coues declaring him the equal of the " Louisiana Thrush itself." An experienced observer assures me that he has never heard anything from the oven-birds but the one brief snatch of a song which they are forever repeating, and such has been my own experience; still, I do not question the tes- timony of those who claim to have heard fine songs from them. I can hardly recall the notes of any bird that I have WOOD NOTES WILD. 63 heard oftener, in the grass and bushes, than the following, which are surely sung by the oven-bird : Sva. Ores - - - cen do. - Though not a great song, such is the zeal in delivery, it keeps the woods ringing. WOOD-PEWEE. CONTOPUS VTRENS. THE wood-pewee's few notes, so peculiar, so solemn, so long, so slow and gliding in movement, and so de- vout withal, distinguish its song sharply from that of all other birds, except, perhaps, the song of the titmouse. The effect of the pewee's singing is decidedly religious, remind- ing one of the worship of the " Free-willers," who, long ago, sang their hymns and half sang their prayers and exhortations on the shores of Lake Winipiseogee. The song closes with such unction that the scoffer is com- pelled to join in the final Amen : Slow. I FTP U m . "- - a . ~**r - f . ~-^ , II lyift r i ( > r f f " r \ r t ^i The portamento is used in this song with wonderful skill and power. The wood-pewee is a tame bird, yet active and coura- geous. He darts and swoops through the air, frequently snapping up insects on his course. As he swiftly passes, you think you will not see him again ; but he returns, and, alighting not far from the perch that he left, takes up the sacred strain. Does some strange bird happen near at the moment, the devotions are interrupted ; the WOOD NOTES WILD. 65 intruder is chased away in the most undevout manner. This done, religious service is resumed with increased fervor. If it be the second or third week in June, his mate may be sitting near by, on four or five white eggs, or the same number of " Free- wilier " fledglings, which the pious father feels it his first duty to protect. Mr. Trowbridge has some happy lines to this little fly- catcher : " To trace it in its green retreat I sought among the boughs in vain ; And followed still the wandering strain, So melancholy and so sweet The dim-eyed violets yearned with pain. 'T was now a sorrow in the air, Some nymph's immortalized despair Haunting the woods and waterfalls ; And now at long, sad intervals, Sitting unseen in dusky shade, His plaintive pipe some fairy played With long-drawn cadence thin and clear, Pewee! pewee! pewee 1" Slow Pe- wee peer! Pe- wee peer! Pe- wee peer! Pe-wee! THE NIGHT-HAWK. CHORDEILES VTRGINIANUS. night-hawk has nothing of the nature or of - the habits of the hawk tribe, though, on the wing, he may resemble some of the smaller hawks. At even- ing twilight, or a little before or after, in search of flies and various insects abounding at that hour, constantly tacking this way and that, as the game attracts, his low ground flight is swift and angular. His pleasure flights are of a wholly different kind, novel performances, unlike those of any other bird. He then flies more moderately, frequently crying "maing" and, at the moment of utter- ance, rising, by two or three quick strokes of the wings, several feet straight upward. Eepeated ascents finally lift him high in air ; Wilson says, " sixty or eighty feet." I am sure I have many times seen him more than two hun- dred feet overhead when he made his plunge. This height attained, he suddenly turns downward, almost perpendicularly at first, with fixed wings and ever increas- ing speed till near the ground ; then with a graceful bend or swoop in the form of a great horse-shoe, he shoots upward again, mounting to plunge as before. When the speed of his swoop is greatest, he produces a loud, boom- ing sound; and this is his music. WOOD NOTES WILD. 67 It is generally believed that the booming is made with the mouth, but careful investigation has convinced me that the mouth has nothing to do with it. This peculiar sound is produced by the pointed wings, stretched down and firmly set, cutting the air. Perhaps it is true that only the males indulge in this singular exercise. Though the night-hawk and the whippoorwill are often taken for one and the same bird, the night-hawk never sings "whippoorwill," nor does the whippoorwill ever "boom." The whippoorwill has bristles on each side of the mouth, and a rounded tail, while the night-hawk has a forked tail and no bristles, and the plumage is dif- ferently marked. Both have the singular habit of sitting lengthwise of a limb. WHIPPOOEWILL. ANTBOSTOMUS VOCIFEKUS. NO bird in New England is more readily known by his song than is the whippoorwilL In the cour- ageous repetition of his name he accents the first and last syllables, the stronger accent falling on the last ; always measuring his song with the same rhythm, while very considerably varying the melody which latter fact is discovered only by most careful attention. Plain, simple, and stereotyped as his song appears, marked variations are introduced in the course of it. The whippoorwill uses nearly all the intervals in the natural scale, even the octave. I have never detected a chromatic tone. Perhaps the favorite song form is this: An eccentric part of the whippoorwilTs musical per- formance is the introduction of a "cluck" immediately after each "whippoorwill;*' so that the song is a regular, unbroken, rhythmical chain from beginning to end. One must be near the singer to hear the " cluck ; " otherwise he will mark a rest in its place. WOOD NOTES WILD. 69 This bird does not stand erect with head up, like the robin, when he sings, but stoops slightly, puts out the wings a little and keeps them in a rapid tremor through- out the song. Wilson decided that it requires a sec- ond of time for the delivery of each " whippoorwill." " When two or more males meet," he adds, " their whip- poorwill altercations become much more rapid and inces- sant, as if each were straining to overpower or silence the other." These altercations are sometimes very amusing. Three whippoorwills, two males and a female, indulged in them for several evenings, one season, in my garden. They came just at dark, and very soon a spirited contest began. Frequently they flew directly upward, one at a time. Occasionally one flew down into the path near me, put out his wings, opened his big mouth and hissed like a goose disturbed in the dark. But the most peculiar, the astonishing, feature of the contention was the finale. Toward the close of the trial of speed and power, the un- wieldy name was dropped, and they rattled on freely with the same rhythm that the name would have re- quired, alternating in their rushing triplets, going faster and faster, louder and louder to the end. Crescendo et accelerando Sva. 1st Voice. 2cl Voice. Whip - poor - will, Whip - poor - will. *lst. 2d. 1st. 2d. 1st. 2d. 1st. 70 WOOD NOTES WILD. Various melodic forms : Whip - poor-will (clock) whip - poor-will (clock) whip-poor-will (cluck.) P i aL^ ^=== J S- > Sfc =. A'v St. * P 6 - J j? i C J P * r g , J r r ^=n (fh ^t farJ^ r^c fcf b - 1 -t far ^ -T fcj ^ LC w r BALTIMOKE OEIOLE. ICTERUS BALTIMORE. OF the Baltimore oriole, every whit American, it is difficult to speak without seeming extravagance. He is the most beautiful of our spring visitors, has a rich and powerful voice, the rarest skill in nest-building, and is among the happiest, most jubilant of birds. The male generally arrives here a few days in advance of the female the first week in May; though last spring (1884) I did not see the oriole till early on the morning of the 15th. He had just arrived, and determined to make up for lost time, he set the whole neighborhood ringing : Hardly a songster, the oriole is rather a tuneful caller, musical shouter ; nevertheless, as will appear, he some- 72 WOOD NOTES WILD. times vents his high spirits in ingenious variations indic- ative of superior possibilities. Years ago I heard, from a large, tall elm standing in an open field, a strain the beauty of which so struck me that it is often wafted through my mind to this day. It was the oriole's voice, but could it be his song ? -f #r T "T fri* - m _ It proved to be, and it became with me a favorite argu- ment for the old form of the minor scale the seventh sharp ascending, natural descending. But a still greater deviation from the usual vocal de- livery of orioles was noticed in Dorset, Vermont, on the 22d of May, 1884, the new song continuing through the season. A remarkable feature of the performance was the distinct utterance of words as plainly formed as the whippoorwill's name when he " tells " it " to all the hills." b =r . =r _ "*> - > l C I* E i I I* f E r r C v v v v ^ -i \t % v fr fr b Cur - ly, cur - ly, Hey! Chick - er - way, chick - er - way, kah, kue. Hey! Chick - er - way, chick - er - way, chew. While listening to this song I could not help thinking that the bird had been trained. He invariably attacked the forte " Hey ! " in the climax, as if he had a full WOOD NOTES WILD. 73 sense of the exclamation. We hoped the wandering minstrel would summer in our grove of maples, but he passed on, visiting the neighbors as he went, finally taking quarters less than a third of a mile away. Nearly every day during the season, however, we were greeted with at least one vigorous "Hey! chick-er-way, chick- er-way, chew!" The oriole, when about to fly, gives a succession of brisk, monotonous notes, much like those of the king- fisher : f a (Mi C 6 E C C Ml The first notes heard from him in Dorset, one spring, were : Long after the foregoing sketch was written, having decided meanwhile that my study of the oriole was fin- ished, one bright summer morning in central New Hamp- shire a bird dashed into a maple directly overhead and sang : /Allegro. It was an oriole. SCAELET TANAGEE. PYRANGA RUBRA. THE tanager, the Baltimore oriole's only rival in beauty, is the less active, the less vigorous charmer of the two, and has less vocal power; but it would be difficult to imagine a more pleasing and delicate exhibi- tion of a bird to both eye and ear than that presented by this singer, in scarlet and black, as he stands on the limb of some tall tree in the early sun, shining, and singing, high above the earth, his brief, plaintive, morn- ing song. The tanager's is an unobtrusive song, while the percussive, ringing tones of the oriole compel attention. The tanager can sing in the forest with only his fellow- birds for audience ; the oriole must be out, near the earth, among men, to be seen and heard of them. For three successive years I found the tanagers in three different States, but not a note from one of them. In the spring of 1888, however, a beautiful singer greeted me, one summer morning, from the top of a tall oak near the house. He paid frequent visits to the same tree-top dur- ing the entire season, and generally sang the same song, beginning and ending with the same tones : WOOD NOTES WILD. Still, like other birds, he had his variations : frresTn- isftf&t iAi'ttf,ti 75 1 These were all June songs, the last two being sung late in the afternoon. Though the singer's home was in the near woods, we did not discover the nest of his mate. Erelong there came a time of silence, and an absence of flaming plu- mage; and finally, a family of tanagers, undoubtedly ours, male and female and three unfinished young tanagers of a neutral olive tint, were about our grounds in the last days of August, evidently prepar- ing to leave for their home in the tropics. The husband and father had doffed both his "singing-robe" and his garment of scarlet, and wore in silence a travelling-dress of mixed pea-green and willow-yellow. More desirous than ever to avoid notice, there was about him a most captivating air of quietness and modesty. KOSE-BEEASTED GROSBEAK. GONIAPHEA LUDOVICIANA. I HAVE had several interviews with this bird in dif- ferent states, but never when prepared to take more than his key-note ; so I give his song mostly from mem- ory, feeling confident, however, of the accuracy of the main features and the spirit of it. The black and white dress of the grosbeak, his breast adorned with a brilliant rose star, instantly attracts the eye ; and his loud, ringing song as surely arrests the ear. He sings rapidly and energetically, as if in a hurry to be through and off. No bird sings with more ardor. While on paper his song resembles the robin's, and the key of E flat major and its relative minor are common to both, the voice and delivery are very unlike the robin's. Loud and rapid. WOOD NOTES WILD. 77 I am told that this bird has also a very musical whis- tling call. I found the grosbeaks in Belknap County, New Hamp- shire, in June, 1886, and in St. Lawrence County, New York, in June, 1887. In their fall migrations they go in flocks, occasionally calling upon the farmers for food, appearing as tame and as much at home as if they had been raised by them. Flocks have passed through northern New Hampshire on their journey South in December, paying leisurely visits to the cider mills for the apple-seeds in the cast-off pum- ice, apparently very little concerned about the cold. BED-EYED VIEEO. VIREO OLIVACEUS. THIS lively, tireless singer, running rapidly after insects in the tops of the forest trees, singing as he goes, is heard more hours in a day and more days in the season than any other bird. There is no difficulty in distinguishing him, the bird so easy to hear and so hard to see. The clear, high tones of his rich voice are a constant repetition of a few triplets, but so ingeniously arranged as not to become wearisome: This illustration, containing the substance of the red- eyed vireo's song, has much in common with the music of other birds. The nest is after the fashion of the oriole's, hanging, as I have found it, beneath the fork of small beech limbs, five or six feet from the ground. It is a nice little pocket, as the cow-bird well knows. YELLOW-BKEASTED CHAT. ICTEBIA VIBIDIS. AS one approaches the haunts of the yellow-breasted chat, the old rule for children is reversed, he is everywhere heard, nowhere seen. Seek him ever so slyly where the ear has just detected him, instantly you hear him elsewhere ; and this with no sign of a flight. The chat revels in eccentricities. Some tones of his loud voice are musical, others are harsh ; and he delights in uttering the two kinds in the same breath, occasionally slipping in the notes of other birds and, on some au- thorities, imitating those of quadrupeds. I have discov- ered in his medleys snatches from the robin, cat-bird, oriole, kingfisher, and brown thrasher. Wilson refers to his "great variety of odd and uncouth monosyllables/' I have detected three such, " char," " quirp," and " whir ; " and they were given with distinctness. The male birds, generally preceding the females in their migrations, locate and at once begin a series of vocal and gymnastic exercises. A marked example of these performances is a jerky flight straight upward perhaps fifty feet, and a descent in the same fussy fashion. The favorite time is just before dusk ; but if there be a moon, a carousal of some sort goes on all night, the evident 80 WOOD NOTES WILD. intention being to let no migrating lady-chat pass with- out a hearty invitation to cease her wandering and to accept a husband and a home. After all, the chat can hardly be said to have a song. The longest strain that I have heard from him is with- out melody, closely resembling the rhythmic movement of the yellow-billed cuckoo's effort, but wholly unlike it in quality of tone. He will burst out with loud, rapid tones, then suddenly retard and diminish to the close: Kit. & dim. t it : tt ll it t t t t it t I have heard this strain many times in the course of an hour, and am satisfied that it has no one pitch or key. The following are the principal notes of this chat, but it is not to be understood that they always come in like order : L - 1 r r r r r r r - 1 u- |j E 1 UJUJ r ^ Eit. & dim. g g C C 3 s Quirp, quirp. (3) WOOD NOTES WILD. Quirp, / charr, charr, Rit.&dim. Chart, charr, charr. Kit. & dim. 81 Whirr, whirr, whirr. BOBOLINK. DOLICHONYX OBYZTVORTTS, THE mere mention of his name incites merriment. Bobolink is the embodiment of frolic song, the one inimitable operatic singer of the feathered stage. Though the oriole has a stronger and more commanding voice, and the thrushes far surpass him in deep, pure and soul-stirring tones, he has no rival; even the mocking- bird is dumb in his presence. In the midst of his rollicking song he falls with bewitching effect into a ventriloquous strain, subdued, as if his head were under his wing ; but soon the first force returns with a swell, and he shoots up into the air from the slender twig upon which he has been singing and swinging in the wind, plying just the tips of his wings to paddle himself along in his reckless hilarity, twisting his head this way and that, increasing in ecstasy till he and his song drop together to the ground. During his short but glorious reign bobolink takes the open meadow, the broad sunlight all day long. When he would sing his best, he invariably opens with a few tentative notes, softly and modestly given, as much as to say, " Eeally, I fear I 'm not quite in the mood to-day." It is a musical gurgling : WOOD NOTES WILD. 83 PI - leu, pi - le - ah. Then the rapturous song begins, and a gradual cres- cendo continues to the end. A few of the first notes of the song proper are, lifr f .f t-U ULfc =$ f \f His tonic is F major or D minor, and he holds to it, his marvellous variations being restricted to the compass of an octave, and the most of his long song to the interval of a sixth. A long song and a strong song it is, but though the performer foregoes the rests common among other singers, like the jeweller with his blow-pipe, he never gets out of breath. We must wait for some in- terpreter with the sound-catching skill of a Blind Tom and the phonograph combined, before we may hope to fasten the kinks and twists of this live music-box. Perhaps we have no more interesting, more charming, summer guest. When Nature clothes the fields with grass and flowers, he throws aside his common brown wear for new plumage, gay as it is unique. This striking change is a new birth ; he neither looks, acts, sings, nor flies as he did before, nor could you guess him out. In 84 WOOD NOTES WILD. both heart and feather he is brightness itself. Most birds are dark above and light below; this bird, in the new birth, takes the exact reverse. His breast and lower parts are black, his back, neck, and crown white, shaded with yellow seams. He reaches New England about the middle of May, with his plumage perfect and his song come to fulness. INDIGO-BIRD. CYANOSPIZA CYANEA. I HAD very little acquaintance with this bird, and knew nothing of his singing, till I sought him for study in a sunny nook near the entrance of the beautiful cemetery at Lynn. There a pair spent the season, giving me frequent opportunities to listen to the singer. His song was brief, plain, and without variation, and I sup- posed it to be the family song; but to my surprise, though I have heard indigo-birds sing many times since, not one of them sang that first song, the only one I have been able to copy. The exact tones were, Sva. At first the tonic was not quite distinct, but after sev- eral performances, I caught this : The conclusion then was that the key was F. In the repetitions the last two tones were added about one time in six, just often enough to keep in mind the true 86 WOOD NOTES WILD. key, which by the constant use of sharp four might be lost sight of. The form, then, was as follows : g E " This little visitor sang frequently and earnestly ; with most fervor in the hot noon-day sun, when the birds gen- erally were silent. BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO. COCCYGUS ERYTHROPHTHALMUS. IT is the black-billed cuckoo whose song, with very lit- tle merit, has become famous. It must be the low pitch, the solemn manner of delivery, and the quality of tone that have attracted the attention of the writers ; for there is little variety in the rhythm and the least possible in the melody. The rather doleful, straightforward rep- etition of the singer's name is not heard every day ; the cuckoo, too, has his moods. i Cuck - 3 00, i cuck - 00, _J g J J J cuck - oo, coo, 1 9$ Cuck - 00, cuck - oo, coo, cuck - oo, coo, gp Cuck - J 00,