corner of the shop, we could not imagine whence the words proceeded, and were led to fancy that it might be some idiot boy repeating, as is common in such cases, his favourite phrase; but no sooner did we learn the truth, than the correctness of the execution became a matter of comparison and of wonder *.

But whatever may be the cause of the pleasure we take in hearing such imitations by birds, both of the sounds of one another and of animals of a different order, they are in many cases possessed of considerable interest. Except, however, in instances similar to those mentioned in a former chapter, we are very much disposed to doubt the current opinion respecting the mocking or mimicry of wild-birds. In Kent, Norfolk, and some other parts of England, the black cap and the fauvette (Philomela hortensis) are both called the mock nightingale, under the notion, probably, of their imitating its song; but no person who is well acquainted with the nightingale's song could for a moment suppose the notes of either of these two birds to be an imitation of it, though they are both delightful songsters, and one of each species, at the time we write this, is trying to excel the other, in the garden opposite to our study. The black-cap indeed, and the fauvette, sing liker to each other than to the nightingale, and have one or two notes in common, though we cannot see any reason to conclude that these notes were reciprocally borrowed; any more than the common notes which may be observed in the several songs of the fauvette, the white-throat, and the babillard (Curruca garrula, BRISSON).

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Another native bird, the sedge-bird (Ripacola salicaria), is represented by most of our naturalists as a genuine mock-bird. The artificial notes," it has been remarked, "which wild birds acquire by imitation, are seldom altogether perfect, and may, in

* J. R.

-popularly supposed to be a different species from the house-sparrow. The tree-sparrow (Passer montanus) of Yorkshire, is indeed a different species, which lays pale-brown eggs without spots; but the London ones, which build indifferently on trees or in holes, have not a shade of difference in their eggs.

The circumstance which renders these nests most interesting, is their very different conformation, when built in a tree or under the shelter of a roof-tile. When a hole is selected it is first bedded with coarse straw, hay, and sometimes moss or similar materials, over which is laid feathers, wool, cotton, pieces of riband, tangled thread, or whatever the birds can find to suit their purpose. There is opposite our window, a faggot of sticks bound with a piece of old rope, which the sparrows have been employed half the summer in making into oakum, as a seaman would say; every fibre of loose ends having been carded out by their beaks, and carried off piecemeal. Last summer, a pair of these birds, unfortunately for themselves, carried off from the garden a long piece of bass; but when this had been successfully stowed in the nest under the tiles, it appeared that they had not sufficient skill to work it into the fabric, and in their endeavours to manage it, both the birds entangled their feet so inextricably in the folds, that they were held close prisoners, one only having line enough to flutter about a foot beyond the entrance. How long they had remained thus entangled we know not, as our attention was called to their situation by the more than ordinary cackling of their neighbour sparrows, who had assembled, it appeared, more to scold the unfortunate pair for their carelessness, than to assist them in getting rid of the bass, for not one attempted to aid them. We there

close similarity of the notes to those alleged to be imitated cannot be denied; but taking all the circumstances into account, we think it much more probable that these resembling notes are original to the sedge-bird, and that we might, with equal justice, accuse the swallow and the sky-lark of borrowing from it.

There are several American birds, however, much more celebrated as mockers or imitators than our little sedge-bird. We shall only particularize three, the polyglot-chat, the blue-jay, and the bird universally designated the mocking-bird.

The polyglot-chat (Pipra polyglotta, WILSON) was first observed and figured by Catesby, who discovered its singular manners by the difficulty he

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had in shooting one. He observed also that it is no less adroit at dancing, than in the varied modulations of its voice. It is, says Wilson, in a highly characteristic sketch, a very singular bird. In its voice and manners, and the habit it has of keeping concealed while shifting and vociferating around you, it differs from most other birds with which I am acquainted, and has considerable claims to originality of character. It arrives in Pennsylvania about the first week in May; its term of residence here being scarcely four months. When he has once taken up his residence in a favourite situation, which is almost always in close thickets of hazel, brambles, vines, and thick underwood, he becomes jealous of his possessions, and seems offended at the least intrusion; scolding every passenger as soon as they come in view, in a great variety of odd and uncouth monosyllables, which it is difficult to describe, but which may be readily imitated so as to deceive the bird himself, and draw him after you for a quarter of a mile at a time, as I have sometimes amused myself in doing, and frequently without once seeing him. On these occasions his responses are constant and rapid, strongly expressive of anger and anxiety; and while the bird itself remains unseen, the voice shifts from place to place, among the bushes, as if it proceeded from a spirit. First are heard a repetition of short notes, resembling the whistling of the wings of a duck or teal, beginning loud and rapid, and falling lower and slower till they end in detached notes; then a succession of others, something like the barking of young puppies, is followed by a variety of hollow guttural sounds, each eight or ten times repeated, more like those proceeding from the throat of a quadruped than that of a bird; which are succeeded by others not unlike the mewing of a cat, but considerably hoarser. All these are uttered with great vehemence, in such different keys, and with

such peculiar modulations of voice, as sometimes to seem at a considerable distance, and instantly as if just beside you; now on this hand, now on that; so that from these manœuvres of ventriloquism, you are utterly at a loss to ascertain from what particular spot or quarter they proceed. If the weather be mild and serene, with clear moonlight, he continues gabbling in the same strange dialect, with very little intermission during the whole night, as if disputing with his own echoes; but probably with a design of inviting the passing females to his retreat, for when the season is further advanced they are seldom heard during the night.

"While the female chat is sitting, the cries of the male are still more loud and incessant. When once aware that you have seen him, he is less solicitous to conceal himself, and will sometimes mount up into the air, almost perpendicularly, to the height of thirty or forty feet, with his legs hanging; descending, as he rose, by repeated jerks, as if highly irritated, or, as is vulgarly said, ' dancing mad.' All this noise and gesticulation we must attribute to his extreme affection for his mate and young; and when we consider the great distance which in all probability he comes, the few young produced at a time, and that seldom more than once in the season, we can see the wisdom of Providence very manifestly in the ardency of his passions *."

We have introduced this description more to show the variety of note and voice which actually occurs in a bird, than as exhibiting an instance even of alleged imitation; for though it is said some of the sounds uttered by the polyglot-chat are something like the barking of young puppies," and "others not unlike the mewing of a cat," it is not averred, as it is in the case of the bird called the mocking-bird, that these sounds are derived from imitation.

Am. Ornith. i. 92.