INTRODUCTION 



A.M. to 9.30 P.M. This thrush was the first wild 

 one which I heard imitate. Like other persons 

 fond of the country, I had Hstened to hundreds, 

 perhaps thousands, of thrushes, and yet had never 

 noticed their mimicry. The bird in question exactly 

 reproduced the "call" of the partridge — I mean 

 the cry heard so often on winter evenings — and 

 this was the sound which first directed my atten- 

 tion critically to the character of the song. The 

 thrush also repeated many cries then well known 

 to me ; for instance, the most prominent notes of 

 the house -sparrow, greenfinch, and chaffinch ; the 

 loud, prolonged call of the blue titmouse ; and notes 

 of the wagtail, brown wren, and some other birds. 

 The invalid, a brother who had been my frequent 

 companion in the country, fully endorsed my 

 opinion of certain notes of the singer ; indeed, 

 he was the first to identify its imitation of the 

 brown linnet. 



Having found mimicry in the thrush, I listened 

 for it in the songs of other birds. In some, such 

 as those of the hedge- accentor, tree -pipit, brown 

 wren, chaffinch, and greenfinch, no trace of it was 

 found, though the birds sang well ; but in others, 

 and especially in those of the starling, sedge- 

 warbler, redstart, blackbird, skylark, and robin, 



