EVOLUTION OF BIRD-SONG 



It is practically unnecessary to distinguish the 

 varying degrees of accuracy in the imitations of the 

 starling, for this bird is one of the best mimics, and 

 its reproductions of the notes of other birds, and 

 even of animals, are as exact as they are various. I 

 often hear a starling imitate the call-note of the 

 tawny owl, which bird is common in this neighbour- 

 hood. The starling can imitate another bird and at 

 the same time utter quite different sounds : it is diffi- 

 cult to imagine how he accomplishes this feat, but 

 the fact remains patent to close observation. The 

 sounds which I have named as imitations of the 

 nightjar are made with the mandibles, which appar- 

 ently are rattled for this purpose. A starling which 

 imitated the cries of a hen is recorded by Mr. L. 

 Buttress, of Grove Rectory, Retford [The Field, No. 

 2054, p. 666). On 2nd March 1892, at Stratford 

 Park, Stroud, three starlings imitated exactly a 

 peculiar swurrr — often uttered by some water-fowl 

 about the pond in the park. 



Mr. A. H. Macpherson has kindly sent me the 

 following note: — "In 1887, at Trinity College, 

 Oxford, I heard a starling on the roof at the opposite 

 side of the Quadrangle attempting to imitate the 

 chapel bell, which was then ringing. To my sur- 

 prise I noticed that, in addition to imitating the 



