814 Observations on the 
Having shewn that the notes of birds are 
natural, or, in other words, that they do not 
depend upon any previous instruction, it 
follows, that they must furnish the attentive 
ornithologist with an excellent method of 
distinguishing species, under all the various 
circumstances that are liable to affect their 
plumage ; though it must be observed, that 
the great similarity so evident in the songs 
of birds of the same species is more in tone 
and style, than in the individual notes of 
which they are composed.* 
IT shall here remark, that it is highly pro- 
bable that no bird, ina wild state, ever bor- 
rows the notes of others, or becomes a mocker. 
Lam well aware, that several of our native 
birds, as the pettychaps and sedge warbler, 
have usually been termed mocking birds: but 
this is certainly improper; as they constantly 
use their own natural notes, and no others, 
they do not at all merit this appellation. The 
fine strain of the first has been thought to 
bear a striking resemblance to those of the 
instruction, the song of their species as soon as their internal organiza- 
tion is active. Hence the males of every species preserve their natural 
song, though they have been brought up in the society of individuals of 
a different kind.” 
* Birds of the same species do not always deliver their notes exactly 
ip the same order of succession ; neither do they uniformly use previsely 
the same notes, 
