OUR BRITISH SONG BIRDS. 79 
ment separated themselves from their fellows in the tree, 
and, acting as though under the command of an officer, 
swept over the fields like a skirminishing party, and after 
making a wide detour, returned. The song of their com- 
panions had been hushed as they left the tree, but now 
they pealed forth their loudest notes, and joined by the 
others, produced a sound one might almost call sublime. 
Every few minutes fresh bands left and returned to the 
tree, the music of their voices falling and rising regularly, 
until tempted by a desire to get nearer the musicians, we 
attracted the notice of the viligent sentinels on the lower 
branches, who, with a loud scream, flew off, and soon the 
whole flock was in motion, the rushing of their wings 
through the air sounding loud as the roar of an angry 
river in its rocky bed. 
As a mimic, the Starling is, in my Opinion, equalled by 
no other British Bird, and on that account alone, makes a 
most amusing pet. Thus I knew of one which, although 
untrained, imitated the crowing of a farmyard cock to such 
perfection that he frequently set all the roosters around 
crowing in defiance, much to his own evident satisfaction. 
In Burton, I have frequently heard the Starling incorporate 
snatches of other birds’ songs with his own curious notes— 
Portions of the songs of the Thrush and Blackbird being 
sometimes perfectly copied, whilst the mournful cry of the 
Pewit, picked up whilst wandering in the meadows, 
startles one at times amidst the scream and babble of the 
Starling’s usual song. 
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