MIMICRY OF NIGHTINGAIE 219 



a clerk in my employ, who knew but little about 

 birds, noticed the resemblance and mentioned it to 

 me. One I heard exactly repeat the cricket -like 

 chirrups which the chiffchaff so often utters immedi- 

 ately after its own typical cry. One repeated the 

 chissick of the house-sparrow fourteen times without 

 a break. As I have before remarked, there is indi- 

 vidually much variation in the frequency with which 

 one of the call-notes (an upwardly-slurred whistle) 

 is repeated at the commencement of a phrase. 

 Several reproduced the " water-bubble " song of the 

 nuthatch exactly ; and another, the green woodpecker's 

 cry, three times in twenty-eight phrases. I tried to 

 take down the song of one of them, in the method 

 adopted by Bechstein. Here is a part of the record : 

 — Quee^ qiiee^ quee . . . Tsorr tsorr . . . Peeuu 

 peeuu . . . Tso, rrrrrr he. Rrrrrrr se. Whit 

 rrrrrr. Tsu tsu tsii. . . . Woodwarbler, exactly. 

 House-sparrow's chissick. Tezvy. Pee pee . . . ke, 

 Tewy, and blackbird's alarm. Highlo highlo . . . 

 klo klo klo, etc. I have several times heard one 

 repeat a phrase which has just been sung by another. 

 The fulness of tone which the nightingale displays 

 interferes with accuracy of imitation in many 

 instances ; and indeed, so wonderful is the song, 

 that a listener is apt to forget all else than the 



