As you can see and hear on YouTube, this bird organ or serinette is not
absolutely convincing.  The tremulous notes sound more like the
quivering tone of a goat!  Don't you think so?

But a lot can't be expected from this little organ, since it has no
bellows -- only a plastic piston running very freely in a cylinder
which is not airtight.  The serinette's designer is aware of its
problems, because he suggests solutions in the accompanying notes.
Unfortunately those notes are in Japanese, without a single word of
English!  I can't read Japanese, but I tried to guess the solutions
from his pictures.

The serinette might work better if:

    1. help were given to the "breathing" of the pump, using two valves
       to assist filling;

    2. a bellows constructed in the traditional manner were added to
       the organ, providing some regulation of pressure to give
       steadier notes.

If some of you read Japanese, please help here!  I wish I could hear
this organ with these improvements added.  I believe in this serinette
as a pedagogic tool showing the advantage of rolls or books in organs
instead of wooden cylinders: less weight, less space required, less
work, wide choice of melodies and unlimited length.

Here is another YouTube video giving some information on the
serinette's construction: 
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKh9DLSwdiI&feature=related 

In any case, it is good to see that our little French serinettes from
the 18th-19th century are not obsolete yet.  They still sound pretty
good two hundred years later!

Jean Nimal
Valenciennes, France