Music of the Birds: A
Celebration of Bird Song
by Lang Elliott
Music of the Birds: A
Celebration of Bird Song
by Lang Elliott
A Superb Gift for anyone who is moved by the beauty of our native bird songs! Music of the Birds: A Celebration of Bird Song, is a colorful introduction to the poetry and aesthetics of bird song appreciation. Includes over 125 stunning full-color photographs of singing birds, informative text, over 125 quotations of prose and poems from early naturalists and poets, and closeup sound recordings of most of the birds described in the text.
This full color book is 136 pages long and includes a 75-minute audio compact disc presenting high-quality field recordings of about 75 native birds , track-coded for easy access. Each track on the CD includes a short narrative introduction by Lang Elliott (NOTE: a special non-narrated audio compact disc, Songbird Portraits, is also available for those who want to hear stereo recordings of our finest native songsters presented without any narration).
Click here to read Cover Notes by naturalist/author Ed Kanze
Music of the Birds is divided into seven major Chapters:
Why Birds Sing. Basic natural history information is presented here, along with a comparison of the scientific and poetic perspectives concerning what motivates birds to sing.
Nature's Finest Songsters. This important chapter focuses on native birds that we consider to be the most musical. This group includes a variety of thrushes, wrens, sparrows, mockingbirds, meadowlarks, finches, and other birds.
Lesser Musicians. All who study bird song come to love the sounds made by each and every bird, no matter how non-musical its song may be. This chapter focuses on the appreciation of the the abundance of "lesser musicians" in our surroundings.
Flight Songs and Night Songs. Many birds have unique songs that they give under special circumstances. This sections introduces night songs, flight songs, dawn songs, aggression songs, courtship songs, and others. Also discussed are phenomena such as countersinging, song matching, duetting, and the mimicry or imitation of the sounds of other birds.
Dawn Chorus. Rising at dawn in spring and early summer, we are greeted by an extraordinary abundance of bird song. This chapter explores possible explanations for the amazing dawn chorus.
Messages of the Poets. When we embrace the words of our best nature poets, we discover a new world of perception, one that intregrates observation with passionate and heartfelt interpretation. This chapters looks deeply at what the poets are trying to tell us about bird song.
Spirit of Listening. The final chapter offers guidelines for learning how to identify bird songs and appreciate them to the fullest.
Sample pagespread from book:
Click here to see a selection of photographs of singing birds included in the book
REALAUDIO SAMPLES of beautiful thrush songs taken from the compact disc that accompanies the book (click here for CD track list):
Hermit Thrush
ORDERING INFORMATION:
- Now available at your local bookstore!
- Published in 1999 by Houghton Mifflin Company
- 1136 pages, 135 color photogaphs, and 65-minute audio compact disc
- 9.5" tall by 9" wide
- Softcover: Retail price $25.00 (ISBN 0-618-00697-4)
Hardback: Retail price $35.00 (ISBN 0-618-00698-2)- Order direct by phone using your credit card by dialing 1-800-879-2473
ORDER OVER THE INTERNET from Amazon.com (Note: Amazon Books utilizes a secure server for safe credit card transactions).
- Order SOFTCOVER from amazon.com for $20.00 (a 20% discount!)
- Order HARDBACK from amazon.com for $25.00 (a 20% discount!)
Related Links:
Learn about other products by Lang Elliott at the NatureSound Studio Home Page
This page designed and copyrighted 1998 by Lang Elliott, NatureSound Studio, PO Box 84, Ithaca, New York 14851-0084. Telephone: 607-277-9034. Lang Elliott e-mail: lang@naturesound.com
