VENTRILOQUIAL AND IMITATIVE POWER OF BIRDS. 



Those who have observed the habits of birds know 

 that they possess the power of imitation, but only at a 

 recent period have naturalists recognized in them the 

 possession of that rarer gift, ventriloquism. Most of 

 the thrush family ( Turdidce) have to some extent this 

 power, though some species rarely exercise it. When 

 we hear the two thrushes {Turdus fuscescens and Tur- 

 dus Tmtstelinus), we look for them much higher in the 

 trees than they really are. Before people become accus- 

 tomed to this voice trick of these thrushes, they are 

 often perplexed in locating the singers. 



I remember one extreme instance : a wood thrush was 

 singing his differently keyed strains with great power 

 and sweetness. I was looking through the branches of 

 a thick hemlock, expecting to see him up thirty or forty 

 feet in the tree. Instead of this elevation, he was with- 

 in three or four feet of the ground, not twenty feet from 

 me. For a long time he continued his songs, but all the 

 time with this ventriloquial effect. 



The golden-crowned thrush (Seiurus aurocapillus) has 

 a habit of throwing its voice to a great distance. The 

 clear military notes "I see! I see!" will sometimes 

 startle you with their apparent nearness, when in fact 



