4 DUBLIN NATTBAL HI8T0KT SOCIETY. 



The meeting was then made special, for the purpose of balloting for 

 members, and the following were declared duly elected: — Edwin 

 Birchall, Esq., Dublin ; J. Neligan, Esq., Tralee ; Kobcrt Roberts, Esq., 

 Harcourt-terrace ; J. B. Doyle, Esq., Dublin. 



The meeting then adjourned to the month of December. 



FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1856. 

 His Grace the Akchbishop of Dublin, V. P., in the Chair. ' 

 The Minutes of the previous Meeting were read and signed. 



His Gbace the Aechbishop of Du:blin read a paper on — 

 the song of the bittchee-bibd. 

 It is not my intention to-night to enter into the natural history of the 

 entii'c family of butcher-birds, or shrikes (Laniadae). I merely wdsh to 

 bring under the notice of the members of the Society a few notes which 

 were made during the month of July last, at Cheltenham, with regard 

 to the song properly so-called of the lesser, or, more properly speaking, 

 the red-backed shrike, or butcher-bird (Zanius collurio) ; and, although 

 I know that it is a rule of this Society that the communications read 

 before it shall be confined to Irish natural history, yet, as a congener 

 of this bird (Zanhis excuhitor) has occurred already, on one occasion at 

 least, in Ireland, I hope I may be allowed to infringe on this rule a 

 Httle. 



Although many authors mention the imitative faculties of the 

 butcher-birds, in respect to the cries of other birds, yet they all say that 

 this faculty is limited to the imitation of the cries and calls only. The 

 only naturalist who at all notices any other power of imitation is 

 Temminck, who, in his ** History of Birds," enters fully into the sub- 

 ject. It is rather strange so remarkable a habit should have escaped 

 notice. 



The following were the notes which I made on the subject : — Last 

 July, when riding along one of the roads near Cheltenham, I was sur- 

 prised by hearing, as I thought, a blackcap ( Curruca atricapilla) singing 

 in a thicket, and, struck with the strangeness of the circumstance, at 

 that season, when all birds are supposed to be mute, I cautiously ap- 

 proached the bird to make sure of its species : much to my astonish- 

 ment I foimd that the musician was the lesser shrike (X. collurio). On 

 listening awhile, to my still greater astonishment, I heard this bird, 

 dropping the song of the blackcap, take up a most perfect imitation of 

 the song of the sedge-warbler {Curruca phrag mites) \ then, successively, 

 the songs of the thrush {Tardus musicus), skylark {Alauda arvensis), 

 and whitethroat ( Curruca cinerea), winding aU up with the call-note of 

 the partridge {Perdix cinerea). 



Nor was this the only occasion on which I was able to note this 

 curious trait in the bird's habits. On many subsequent occasions I 

 witnessed similar concerts, in everj- case being able to identify the bird, 



