BALTIMORE ORIOLE, OR GOLDEN ROBIN. 155 



an imitation of the discordant notes of some South Ameri- 

 can bird. For many days she continued this tune at inter- 

 vals without any variation. The male, also while seeking 

 his food in the same tree with his mate, or while they are 

 both attending on their unfledged brood, calls frequently 

 in a low friendly whisper 'twait, 'twHt. Indeed, all the 

 individuals of either sex, appear pertinaciously to adhere 

 for weeks to the same quaint syllables which they have 

 accidentally collected. . 



This bird then, like the Starling, appears to haveataste 

 for mimickry, or rather for sober imitation. A Cardinal 

 Grosbeak happening, very unusually, to pay us a visit, 

 his harmonious and bold whistle struck upon the ear of a 

 Baltimore with great delight, and from that moment his 

 ordinary notes were laid aside for 'woit 'laoit tea, and 

 other phrases previously foreign to him for that season. 

 I have likewise heard another individual exactly imitating 

 the soft and somewhat plaintive vit yu, vit yiu of the same 

 bird, and in the next breath the pent, or call of Wilson's 

 Thrush ; also, at times the earnest song of the Robin. 

 Indeed his variations and imitations have sometimes led 

 me to believe that I heard several new and melodious 

 birds, and I was only undeceived when I beheld his bril- 

 liant livery. So various, in fact, are the individual phrases 

 chanted by this restless and lively bird, that it it scarcely 

 possible to fix on any characteristic notes by which he may 

 be recognised ; his singular, loud, and almost plaintive tone, 

 and a fondness for harping long on the same strinc, are 

 perhaps more peculiar than any particular syllables, which 

 he may be heard to utter. When alarmed or offended 

 at being too closely watched or approached, they both ut- 

 ter an angry, rattling tsher tsh'r, or hiss, tsh' tsh' tslv 'tsh. 



