72 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 



When he saw me he broke off in the middle of the 

 crowing. There is nothing particularly remarkable in 

 the crowing of itself, for many birds imitate the 

 sounds made by other animals. The curious fact about 

 it was, that the bird would not crow in my presence, 

 and would always stop when any one appeared to wit- 

 ness the execution. I attributed his conduct to a feel- 

 ing of shame, or to a sense of unfitness of that method 

 of expression. Have w^e not in this another proof of 

 the possession of animals of a psychical quality which 

 it has been used to regard as peculiarly and distinctively 

 human r' 



The blue-jay has considerable power of imitation, and 

 frequently indulges in mimicry. One kept by a family 

 whom I was visiting, would say "whoa" to the horse, 

 sufficiently plain to stop the animal. If the bird was 

 by the window, in sight of the gate, he was sure to call 

 out "whoa" whenever the family horse was driven to 

 the door. The jay never uttered the word to any horse 

 except that of his master. 



In its wild state I have never heard a bobolink make 

 a hissing noise, yet a tame one which we had in our 

 possession, when disturbed or displeased, would hiss 

 almost exactly like a goose. If a canary alighted on 

 his cage, the bobolink would thrust out his head toward 

 the intruder and hiss it off. Once, in a field, I heard a 

 bobolink sing half the most common song of the 

 American gold finch. Last summer I used often to walk 

 across Portage High Bridge to the Letchworth woods, 

 to listen to a remarkably fine-voiced wood-thrush, that 



