BIRDS AT THEIR BEST 23 



thought of for years, and its language comes back 

 at call to my mind. I listen mentally to its various 

 notes, and there is not one in the least like the 

 notes of any British species. These images have 

 therefore never received refreshment. Again, where 

 there is a resemblance, as in the trisyllabic cry of 

 the common sandpiper and another species, I listen 

 mentally to one, then to the other, heard so long 

 ago, and hear both distinctly, and comparing the 

 two, find a considerable difference, one being a 

 thinner, shriller, and less musical sound than the 

 other. Still again, in the case of the blackbird, 

 which has a considerable variety in its language, 

 there is one little chirp familiar to every one — a 

 small round drop of sound of a musical, bell-like 

 character. Now it happens that one of the true 

 thrushes of South America, a bird resembling our 

 song-thrush, has an almost identical bell-like chirp, 

 and so far as that small drop of sound is concerned 

 the old image may be refreshed by new sense-im- 

 pressions. Or I might even say that the original 

 image has been covered by the later one, as in the 

 case of the laughter-like cries of the Dominican and 

 the black-backed gulls. But with regard to the 

 thrushes, excepting that small drop of sound, the 

 language of the two species is utterly different. 



