IMITATION AND MIMICRY. 201 
the first time we heard it from the bird, hanging in 
a dark corner of the shop, we could not imagine 
whence the words proceeded, and were led to fancy 
that it might be some idiot boy repeating, as is com- 
mon in such cases, his favourite phrase; but no 
sooner did we learn the truth, than the correctness 
of the execution became a matter of comparison 
and of wonder. 
But whatever may be the cause of the pleasure 
we take in hearing such imitations by birds, both of 
the sounds of one another and of animals of a dif- 
ferent order, they are in many cases possessed of 
considerable interest. In Kent, Norfolk, and some 
other parts of England, the black-cap and. the fau- 
vette (Philomela hortensis) are both called the mock 
nightingale, under the notion, probably, of their im- 
itating its song; but no person who is well ac- 
quainted with the nightingale’s song could for a mo- 
ment suppose the notes of either of these two birds 
to be an imitation of it, though they are both de- 
lightful songsters, and one of each species, at the 
time we write this, is trying to excel the other, in 
the garden opposite to our study. 
Another English ‘bird, the sedgebird (Ripecola 
salicaria), is represented as a genuine mockbird. 
‘“‘ The artificial notes,” it has been remarked, “ which 
wild birds acquire by imitation, are seldom alto- 
gether perfect, and may, in most cases, be recog- 
nised as imitations. This remark is confirmed by 
the fact, that mockbirds, which may be considered 
as having no natural songs of their own, cannot go 
through with any set of notes without introducing 
tones foreign to the notes they are imitating. The 
mockbird of this country” (Ripecola salicaria), 
“* whose retired habits cause it to be but little at- 
tended to, may be heard hurrying over in succes- 
sion the song of the wren, wagtail, and skylark, the 
twitter of the swallow, and the chirp of the spar- 
row and the chaffinch; but it often introduces a deep 
