FIELD BOOK OF WILD BIRDS AND THEIR MUSIC, BY MATHEWS

FIELD BOOK OF WILD BIRDS and THEIR MUSIC A DESCRIPTION OF THE CHARACTER AND MUSIC OF INTENDED BIRDS, TO ASSIST IN THE IDENTIFICATION OF SPECIES COMMON IN THE UNITED STATES EAST OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS $ $ $ & $ By F: SCHUYLER MATHEWS AUTHOR OF THE FIELD BOOK OF AMERICAN WILD FLOWERS, FIELD BOOK OF AMERICAN TREES AND SHRUBS, FAMILIAR TREES AND THEIR LEAVES, BOOK OF BIRDS FOR YOUNG PEOPLE r Of Sf r 3f :::::: s : r 2f «3f WITH NUMEROUS REPRODUCTIONS OF WATER COLOR AND MONOTONE STUDIES OF BIRDS, AND COMPLETE MUSICAL NOTATIONS OF BIRD SONGS BY THE AUTHOR :::::::!•:: REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION JOV G G P PUTNAM'S SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON WILD BIRDS AND THEIR MUSIC Copyright, 1904, by F SCHUYLER MATHEWS F SCHUYLER MATHEWS Copyright, 1921, by This book, or parts thereof, must reproduced in any form without permission All rights reserved not be Twelfth Impression of Revised Edition Made in the United States of America GENEVIEVE AND CARROLL 'MY ENTHUSIASTIC COMPANIONS IN MANY FOR THE FEATHERED SONGSTER THESE WOOD NOTES ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED A HU! INTRODUCTION TO THE REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION Hast thou a charm to stay the morning star In his steep course? So long he seems to pause On thy bald awful head, O sovran Blanc! The Arve and Arveiron at thy base Rave ceaselessly; but thou, Risest from forth thy silent sea of pines, How silently! Ye sing ye meadow streams with gladsome voice pine groves, with your soft and soul-like sounds! Samuel Taylor Coleridge When in the lapse of a number of years an accumulation of knowledge and experience has enlarged or modified one's mental vision, it is well if the advance goes on record Now, although my estimate of the character and significance of bird music has undergone little material change during a period of seventeen years, it has grown proportion ately with those years, and I have added in this new edition the results of my latest study It is not necessary to apologize for the insistence tion expressed in upon the value my Introduction to Bird of musical nota- Music, there is no avoiding the facts stated therein, nor any cause to enlarge on them; but there is something to be added in relation to the musical scales of the birds, the musical record and its and in appreciation of popular as well as scientific usefulness When one attains the commanding summit of a high mountain the horizon is greatly enlarged If one remains in the valley and mountain walls shut one in on every side, the world indeed seems small Coleridge soared upward like the lark when he wrote the lines quoted above With INTRODUCTION greatly enlarged vision he has epitomized the music of Nature as that must appeal to all of us else it cannot appeal all The mountain reveals the boundless horizon of a different world of which we have scarcely dreamed or thought, a world to which the little bird on viewless wing has ever sung, shall ever sing His music is his language, at for us it is interpretative of life's experience; which we may cast aside as a child it is not a thing his toy would discard when it ceases to amuse Hence, I believe the birds with their music are the revelation of a greater world, one with just such a boundless horizon as that which we view from the mountain's summit marvelling that it is indeed the same narrow world we live in It is not possible to listen to the melody of the Song Sparrow in early March without realizing for the time being that we are released from the cold clutch of winter and set down if in the comfortable lap of spring What matters it the squalling interruptions of the Blue Jay disturb that delightful impression A discordant note somewhere is a phase of life; not all the singers are divine, in fact, the world of music if it is true to life must record a due proportion of flippant jest, idle chatter, squawking disagreement, ragtime frivolity, mooning transcendentalism, and so on A world of singing birds devoid of humor would be extremely dull; without something plainly, humanly nonsensical in it now and then it must be insufferably tedious One would not dare to assume that naught of innocent jollity entered into the But there life of the bird of serene, exultant is is in the music of the birds it is in the songs of the convincing proof that their built upon definite, primitive scales scales which the Thrushes, and music melody plenty; the plainest evidence of we have — the birds used aeons of years before man did This book is not the proper medium in which to set forth evolutionary theories of bird-song, but I the bird sings first must emphatically repeat that and second for love of for love of music, I am not alone in my theory of the inherent musical nature of song-birds, for Mr Chauncey J Hawkins the lady writes in The Auk: "There must be something within the vi — INTRODUCTION bird himself which causes him to sing though there is no ear to listen," and further, the writer advises his reader to "seek the cause of song in the internal life of the bird rather than in external causes."* The addition of many birds to the original group included book was a much needed one Although a number of the species are rather uncommon, one is likely to be surprised by the appearance of a rare individual at any time in some most unexpected place that has been my own exin this ; perience, and several of the song-records, notably those of the Lincoln Sparrow, the inimitable little Winter Wren, and the Tennessee Warbler, were quite accidental acquisitions; indeed, a considerable number of the notations contained here were such, but I believe they may at least claim the appearance." Whether they are useful for the purpose of identifying the birds is another matter one which I must leave for the reader to decide It is sufficient for me to point out that I recognized the song of the Veery for the first time in the winter of 1884 upon readcredit of "a first it in an article on Bird Music by Simeon Pease Cheney which appeared in the Century Magazine at that time Thirty-one years later, on a certain occasion I requested a Boston musician to go to the piano, run his fingers in a particular way over a progression of minor thirds ascending within the diminished seventh and he would have the equivalent of the song of Swainson's Thrush; he did so and instantly reproduced the notes of the musical record found on page 253 He did not see nor ing a notation of did he need to see the written music, the verbal description was enough At the same time, for those who not read or understand music I have not hesitated to introduce within these pages every possible means aside from music may promise help in the identification of bird-song same page 253, there is a suggestive scalloped line accompanied by Bradford Torrey's syllabic form which also represents the music of Swainson's Thrush Even if there were but one among a dozen of my considerate readers who could read a musical record, that would discount its ultimate value in no respect if it were truthful, which Therefore, on this * Vide The Auk, October, 1918, vol xxxv., vii No p 421 INTRODUCTION such form the song is in a state of scientific preservawhich is more than may be said of a lack of musical knowledge The time has already come when most of the advanced school children of Boston and New York can tell us exactly the difference between the chromatic and diatonic scales A piano and a Canary may not be unmixed blessings in the house, but no one has yet ventured to suggest the home is blessed which boasts nor bird nor music! The correction of errors in text and music which must inevitably enter a book of this kind in spite of the greatest vigilance cannot always be successfully accomplished by one pair of eyes In this connection I am greatly indebted to Mr Henry L Mason of Boston for his valuable suggestions and kindly interest in the work It should also be borne in mind that for one who has always lived both in town and country in an atmosphere of music, the many for, in tion, ! allusions to musical parallelism within these pages are be- lieved to be as interesting and and useful to others as to himself; again, with respect to musical pitch, a vitally import- ant point in the transcription of bird-music, it should be explained that a musical mind is adept in carrying the key of C without assistance of instrument or pitch pipe If it were not so the significant Twice or Thrice 8va which appears over my notations would not be so constantly employed In certain cases for example, the Warblers and the Cuckoos musical pitch is an indubitable indication of the species! It should not be necessary for me to add that the piano arrangements here are meant solely to demonstrate the musical content of the bird's song Bird-notes can scarcely be recognized with the assistance of the piano If one desires a tonal imitation of the song it must be whistled in accordance with its notation and in exact pilch, no other — way — will answer F Cambridge, Mass vin Schuyler Mathews : PREFACE Undoubtedly the thing we love and cheriuh most about the little wild-wood singer is his song The music from the Robin sitting alone and apparently cheerless on the bare branch of the elm beside the road is at least a most welcome message with the true ring of springtime about it, even though the meadow is bare of any green thing, and the sky too dull and gray to suggest the advent of the gentler season The calendar says it is March, but as far as appearances go it might just as well be grim November except for the presence of the Robin But fortunately appearances are discounted in a country where the poet has most aggra- — vatingly sung " The spring comes slowly up As though we much in did not know this way." that without being told as The fact is, it really does not come at all as the poets would have it, either early or late That verse! familiar line of the old English poet, " Come, gentle spring, ethereal mildness, come"; entirely unrelated to the order of things in the northern United States here our spring is mostly made up of sentiment connected with extended lists of singing birds and of hurriedly blooming wild flowers; all the rest is weather and plenty of it! January thaws, February snow-flurries, March gales, July heat, December frosts, August thunder-showers, and November skies! All is out of order except the birds; they come is ; — and sing, day in and day out, in spite of the weather and apparently without a thought of the preposterous disagreements of the climate and in regular procession, the weather bureau! But the songs, what of them! why is the singer recorded in all the books, but never or hardly ever his song? Well, the question is a difficult one to answer without finding fault with some one, so it would be best >o mate this little volume furnish the response Here — — PREFACE it is, last from birds which and on the hillside for the past Whose are the songs, mine ? No, I am only from the have sung in the five years publisher, but first field the reporter who has listened attentively for a score of vernal seasons to the little feathered musicians of Na- The volume is literally a fieldbook filled with the musical sayings of American birds', I have taken no liberties with the scores, except to make a doubtful A or B no longer doubtful All is a literal transcription, not without certain puzzling phases, of course for who of us have never been bothered by Naturally, the rapid performances of expert musicians ture's great orchestra ; ! some of my records are imperfect; indeed, it is safe to add that some singers sang a great deal more than I was able to put down on paper I trust, however, that no bird lover will be disturbed by the remarkable records coming from the more talented songsters when he hears what they have done through the interposition of the pianist If he should doubt my record I would be pleased to introduce him to my bird (or perhaps some other one just as talented) in the field opposite my studio, or on the mountain-side behind it, in the wilds therefore, of New Hampshire To those kind friends who have greatly assisted me by advice and service in the planning of this work I am glad to extend grateful acknowledgments Mr William Brewster has permitted me to sketch in water-color from specimens in his museum Mr Walter Deane has been generous in advice, Mr Frank Chapman has given me ample facilities to sketch from specimens in the New York Museum of Natural History Messrs Lee and Shepard have kindly presented me with a copy of Mr Cheney's Wood Notes Wild, and granted permission to quote therefrom Messrs Houghton and have allowed me to quote from those admirable volumes of that charming writer and true naturelover, Mr Bradford Torrey * Messrs Ginn and Company Mifflin little * Mr Torrey, above all other authors, has succeeded in succinctly describing the musical rhythm of the bird's song, and has also used practical musical definitions His writings are of inestimable value to one who pursues the study of bird music Brown Thrasher 388 Chebec (above) Wood Pewee (below) 389 390