The Opelousas courier., 1888-02-25
THE VOICES FBIRDS.
They Have Human Traits in a
Lesser Form.
The Vulture's Tones Initiated by
. Dissipation. ~

Sev. Miller Hageman of Brooklyn,
author of a book of poems entitled
BIRD Songs Translated Into Words,S
has been interviewed by a New York
Evening Sun reporter, who asked:
"Wha are the great singing bit1s of
the world2"
"All countries have their great sing
ers," replied Mr.. Hsgeman. "The
nightingale for Spain, the skylark for
England, the clarina for Mexico. There
is a clarina in New York nov. The
construction of his throat is finer than
that of the nightingale. Incomparably
the finest singer iu the world is the
American 1aocking-biri by moonlight"
"How is it possible to translate a
bi~rd'sSongT
sit is a dainty difficulty. Go to tho
bird. Stu ly it thoroughly; its moods,
habits, occupation emotions, Fev&gfes,
+, at morning, noon, evening, midnight.
/ Find out patiently from its song what
its characteristic thou 5ht is; translate
that into words. Birds are human be-
ings. They have all our traits in a lesser
form" "
"What is the great bird centre for the
4. United States2"
"New Jersey. Many of the Southern
birds fly no further north, and many q
the Northerr birds no further south
than New Jersey"
"Do the voices of the birds correspond
in their registers to those of human be-
ingsT ~
decidedly; although this has never
before been stated. For instance, the
nightingale is q rich ~contralto, the
hooking bird of a soprano sopracuto,
the wood thrush a fine soprano, the shy
lark a curious combination of the mezzo.
The st~akedrivet is a basso profundo.
His notes are deep and sonotus, and
his song is, 'Punk-a-gonk! A-genka-
wunck.' The cedar bird or the Wa8-
wing lisps. He tries to sing in all parts
and cannot sing in any. The bobolink
is a musical hybrid of metres. His is a
jingling song. He is the only bird whom
the hooking bird can't initiate. If a
bobolink be shut up in the same cage
with a hooking bird the mockiag bird
will not i~nfr-quentiy die within three
months of "a broken heart, because of
his failure to initiate the bobolink. The
winter wren isa crystalline contratino
tenor. The rapidity of its songs deies
lightning and consequently analysis.
The blue bird, as Mr.. Beecher said, al
ways seems to be about to sing some
thing, but never quite gets there. The
vulture is the musical discord of the
bird family. Its voice which is even
more hoarse than that Of the blue jay, is
perceptibly vitiated by its incorporate
habits. The vulture is the drunkard OF
the birds. The bell bird Of Florida has
a voice whose gamut of sounds
represents the higher and lower tones Of
a peal of bells. The voice of this bird
can be heard distinctly for three-fourths
of a mile. The voice of the oriole sounds
as though the bird were singing Tus-
can Latin The voice of the wood dove
is Ike a flute. The red birds voice re.
sembles a piccolo. The seraping voice
Of the whet-saw resembles so exactly
the sound of a saw at a leg-mill thai
when it scrapes its song out at night
more than one sawyer has been walked
from his sleep supposing that the mil
was in motion. The canary has a either
voice. The catbird initiates a violin.
The monotonous voice of the blue jay i
like a Scotch b%agpipe." :