BIRDS IN A VILLAGE 103 



by chance there is something in the new phrase 

 which pleases the listeners too, you will note that 

 they instantly suspend their own singing, and for 

 some little time they do nothing but listen. By 

 and by the new note or phrase will be exactly 

 reproduced from a bird on another bush; and 

 he, too, will begin repeating It at short intervals. 

 Then a second one will get it, then a third, and 

 eventually all the birds in that thicket will have 

 It. The constant repeating of the new note may 

 then go on for hours, and it may last longer. 

 You may return to the spot on the second day 

 and sit for an hour or longer, listening, and still 

 hear that same note constantly repeated until you 

 are sick and tired of it, or it may even get on 

 your nerves. I remember that on one occasion I 

 avoided a certain thicket, one of my favourite 

 daily haunts for three whole days, not to hear 

 that one everlasting sound; then I returned and 

 to my great relief the birds were all at their old 

 game of composing, and not one uttered — per- 

 haps he didn't dare — ^^the too hackneyed phrase. 

 I was sharply reminded one day by an incident 

 in the village of this old Patagonian experience, 

 and of the strange human-like weakness or pas- 



