File:The American Museum journal (c1900-(1918)) (17539805673).jpg

Title: The American Museum journal
Identifier: americanmuseumjo17amer (find matches)
Year: c1900-(1918) (c190s)
Authors: American Museum of Natural History
Subjects: Natural history
Publisher: New York : American Museum of Natural History
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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THE MEANING OF BIRD MUSIC 125 Even the common l)arnyard cock will occasionally express his exuberant feel- ings in true melody, as in this paean with which I heard a Maryland cock oreet the dawn on a N"ovember morn- ing: and in which the final descent of the gamut was accomplished by distinct steps, unblurred by any portamento, or slur, and in good strict time. Many of the Oscines that may properly be classed as melodists hold their title by a very slight grip. The lisping or buzzing songs of most species of war- blers, the incoherent utterances of purple finch, goldfinch, warbling vireo, junco, and like singers, the twittering chirpings of swallows, the monotones of nuthatch and chipping sparrow, and the indeterminate notes of house wren, indigo bird, and English sparrow (in his rare musical moods)—these perform- ances, although often pleasing to the ear, are almost entirely lacking in mel- ody, as known and enjoyed by man; while the dickcissel expresses his emo- tions in articulations that seem to be- long to speech, rather than song. On the other hand, some of the avian melodists are entitled to high rank as musicians, even when judged by human musical standards. Many of their pro- ductions, although brief, excel in me- lodious beauty the best efforts of some primitive human races, and a few arc worthy of a place beside the melodies of the civilized world. Here is an attrac- tive passage^ in which a theme in a minor key is followed l^y the same theme in the relative major key, with a 1 Although the fact is unimportant, it may be stated that all the bird fongs given in this article ■were sung an octave higher than they are here written. change from piano to forte that gives a distinct touch of brilliancy: This is not, as might be thought, an extract from the note book of Mozart, Bach, or Mendelssohn, but an excerpt from the song of a rock thrush (Mon- ticoki saxicola) I heard in the Worth- ington Aviary at Shawnee-on-Delaware, Pennsylvania, four or five years ago. The notes were perfectly true to pitch and were given in a quality of tone that was exactly that of the human whistle. The attendants at the aviary had picked up the bird's phrases, and during my three days there I could never tell without inquiry whether the bird or an attendant was responsible for any particular rendering of them I happened to hear. Ijike the true little musician that he was, the thrush avoided monotony by varying his utterances, sometimes with different themes, sometimes with dif- ferent combinations of themes. His ingenious use of the second theme of the song quoted above appears in the following notations of some of the com- binations:
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