Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1954-07-04
Turnt0ble Talk

to the public. and the uniyer-
sity is currently IN the process
Of broadening the potential
appreciation by making avail
able additional recordings and
long-playing versions Of older
ones.
II Took Patience
How fascinating these discs
are. One can imagine the in
finite patience required to
steal within microphoning
range Of one of natures tall
euted performers. and the
bated breath as one waits to
see whether the artist will go
through his scheduled per-
Torrance or suddenly turn
temperamental and fly away.
There Is also, no doubt, al
ways the problem Of whether
some raucous rival will appear
on the scene and try to steal
the show. How many poten-
italy historic recitals have
been lost to posterity only
Drs. Allen and Kellogg could
say.
But Cornell's song-hunters
have gotten what they went
after. and that In remarkable
profusion and realism. The
most imposing Of the birdsong
discs issued to date Is one
called American Bird Songs.
Vol. Two" a long-playing
duplication Of an earlier 10
rpm album. This record con-
tains the voices Of 81 differ
ent birds. not counting nom
featured performers often
overheard in the background.
II starts of with the bluebird
and winds up with the chest
nut-Sided warbler, and in
between are all kinds Of vir-
tuosi. You can hear the
laughing coot, and the gurg-
ling cowbird. There's q real
chickadee and a starling's imi-
tation Of one talong with
bogus peewee, meadowlark.
flicker. grackle. bluejay and
house sparrow. There are
nuthatches. wrens. a tufted
titmouse and q vireo, jays
talking among themselves and
a towhee advising every one
to drink your tea" (iced this
time of year. presumably.
Many Of these voices can be
heard any Sunday in Rock
Greek Park.
Florida Contributes
Two 1O-inch, 78-rpm collec-
tions also are available, one
devoted to 10 Florida song
birds and the other to an equal
number Of birds Of the West.
The cardinal, so familiar here.
is one of the featured artists
on the Florida disc. along with
the unfamiliar limpkin. sand
hill crane and ivory billed
woodpecker, the rarest Amer
lean bird, which sounds some
thing like a bicycle horn. On
the western disc are. among
others, the CHEEKY linnet. the
Bewick wren, which sounds
like a song sparrow. and the
spotted towhee, which says
tea" and omits the drink
your"
An interesting talk which
James Fassett once produced
with DR.. Kellogg for a New
York Philharmonic broadcast
is reproduced on a 10-inch
long-playing record. Besides
giving the natural voices of
10 birds and a half dozen
toads and frogs, Mr.. Fassett
slows down some of the voices
to show the remarkable facil-
ity with which they operate.
The 100 notes in a winter
wren's song still sound compli-
Gated at one-fourth speed, and
q wood thrush at one-eighth
normal tempo sounds weird, to
say the least. The hermit
thrush, q Vermont friend of
mine, and q bull frog also
have their decidedly unlike
moments on this disc.
Frogs and foods. Too
Another entire LIP record.
called Voices Of the Night,
is devoted to frogs and toads,
"a varieties Of them with a
striking closeup Of one on the
front covert. and some of
these must be heard to be
believed. A radio station might
use parts Of this record for
sound-effects, for the South
ern barking frog resembles .
hound. the squirrel tree frog
sometimes resembles q tele-
phone busy-signal and at
others q scolding squirrel. the
pine woods tree frog sounds