102 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



if one can use such an expression about a bird; 

 that he is all the time experimenting, trying to 

 get a new phrase, a new combination of the notes 

 he knows and new notes. Also, that when sit- 

 ting on his bush and uttering these careless chance 

 sounds, he is, at the same time, intently listen- 

 ing to the others, all engaged in the same way, 

 singing and listening. You will see them all 

 about the place, each bird sitting motionless, like 

 a grey and white image of a bird, on the summit 

 of his own bush. For, although he is not gre- 

 garious as a rule, a number of pairs live near 

 each other, and form a sort of loose community. 

 The bond that unites them is their music, for not 

 only do they sit within hearing distance, but they 

 are perpetually mimicking each other. One may 

 say that they are accomplished mimics but prefer 

 mimicking their own to other species. But they 

 only imitate the notes that take their fancy, so 

 to speak. Thus, occasionally, one strikes out a 

 phrase, a new expression, which appears to please 

 him, and after a few moments he repeats it 

 again, then again, and so on and on, and if you 

 remain an hour within hearing he will perhaps 

 be still repeating it at short intervals. Now, if 



