The Music of Wild Birds

Illustrator Pelikan (Grandmother Remembers) highlights what fellow birder Mathews called""the little feathered musicians of Nature's great orchestra"" in a gift book perfect for bird lovers. Her delicate, bright drawings of birds complement the excerpts of Mathews's lighthearted and poetic mini-essays, which come from his 1904 Field Book of Wild Birds and Their Music. Also included from Mathews's original are the musical scores to the birds' songs. Those who can't read music can focus on Mathews's discussion of rhythm and appreciate his enthusiastic descriptions. The Ruffed Grouse is""the kettledrum,"" the Warbling Vireo is a""rambling soprano"" and the Hermit Thrush is""a bird of genius...the last to sing the vesper hymn, and the earliest to open the matutinal chorus at the break of day."" The Common Grackle--by and large an unpopular bird--makes noises rather than music: he can sound like""rattling shutters, watchman's rattles, ungreased cart wheels and vibrating wire springs."" And what of the Purple Finch? Its songs make""first-rate motives for Spanish tarantelles."" Color illustrations throughout.