Hunting the Songs of Vanishing Birds with a Microphone
A brief historical résumé of the subject of bird sound recording is presented, including a discussion of the idea behind the work and its usefulness to students of ornithology. Graphical methods of recording songs are mentioned, as well as some early attempts at phonographic recording. — Problems of recording bird songs in the field are discussed. The high frequencies of bird song; the necessity of working at relatively great distances from the subject; wind and other noises; the need for portability and simplicity of equipment, all combine to increase the difficulties of the work. The use of parabolic concentrators in the work is discussed and it is concluded that the frequency distortion introduced by this type of pick-up device is more tolerable for bird song recording than it would be for records of human voice or music.
- Print ISSN
- 0097-5834
- Published
- 1938-02
- Content type
- Original Research
- DOI
- 10.5594/J14702