214 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS 



members of my little bird colony. He visits them 

 daily, and is even interested in the various kinds 

 of food he finds at their homes. One of the canaries, 

 More, is his special chmn. I have seen him terribly 

 maul little Miss Bingham, the saffron finch, for 

 having pecked the canary. His only serious fault 

 is his desire to bathe in every tub of water he finds 

 while on his visits. This would not be quite so 

 objectionable even to the brown thrush, whose well- 

 appointed house is ever the acme of neatness, but 

 for the splashing of water over her entire cage. 

 This, no bird hostess is willing to tolerate! 



Parrots are perhaps the best imitators of the hu- 

 man voice, with crows, talking minors, and para- 

 keets as close seconds. But the powers of each of 

 these are too well known to require further elucida- 

 tion. Mimicry is not confined to only a few species 

 of birds, but is present in some degree in practi- 

 cally every bird. The term "mocking-bird" might 

 be applied to many kinds of singers. 



The bull-finch and the gold-finch are famous for 

 their powers of imitation. While their native notes 

 are very simple, they may be taught almost any 

 tune, and can even learn to articulate a few words. 

 Most of the trained bull-finches come from Ger- 

 many, where they have been regularly schooled by 

 experts. Cobblers and lone people with much pa- 



