IMITATION 175 



howling of dogs, and even the painful screeching of 

 the filing or sharpening of the saw " (ibid. op. cit. vol. i. 

 p. 3 I o). Gould described the superb lyre-bird (M. 

 superbd] as " sometimes pouring forth his natural 

 notes, at others mocking those of other birds, and 

 even the howling of the dingo " (ibid. op. cit. vol. i. 

 p. 300). These descriptions of the menuras evidently 

 refer to wild birds. The Tasmanian cow-shrike 

 " possesses the power of imitating in an extraordinary 

 degree : it may be taught to whistle tunes as well 

 as to articulate words" (ibid. op. cit. vol. i. p. 178). Mr. 

 R. Sterndale, of Whitcombe, Worcester Park, Surrey, 

 has kindly forwarded to me an extract from a paper 

 published in the Journal of the Bombay Natural 

 History Society ', vol. i. p. 28, 1886, by Mr. E. H. 

 Aitken, " On the Mimicry shown by Phyllornis Jer- 

 doni, the Green Bulbul," which bird he twice heard 

 imitate many others. He says that on one occasion 

 the bird, which he had alarmed, " began to abuse 

 me in several languages." General D. Thomson, 

 who spent many years with the army in India, 

 writes that many birds in that country are very 

 imitative, notably the crow and the minah (in 

 lift.}. 



We have here records of the imitativeness of 

 birds of many different kinds ; and we find that in 



