200 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



the successfulness of the effort in accomplishing 

 what might be previously supposed a difficult task 

 for a bird, the overcoming of any difficulty having 

 always the effect of exciting proportional admira- 

 tion, from the sympathy of the passive spectator 

 with the active agent, who feels his incapability of 

 executing the same feat in all its particulars. 



A story is told of Goldsmith, that having gone 

 with Johnson and Burke to see an exhibition of pup- 

 pets, his vanity was hurt at their praising the agil- 

 ity displayed by the figures, which, with character- 

 istic simplicity, he volunteered to equal, and began 

 accordingly, in good earnest, to skip over the chairs 

 in the room, without reflecting that it was not ex- 

 actly the agility that had pleased them and drawn 

 forth their admiration, but the imitation of living 

 actions, producing in their minds a train of compar- 

 ison between the puppets and the motions of the 

 animals imitated. 



The truth of these views appears to be proved by 

 the fact, that when the imitation is so perfect as to 

 amount to a belief of its identity with what is imi- 

 tated, no pleasure is produced by an observer, in 

 consequence of his mind not being excited to insti- 

 tute a train of comparisons. In the case of the par- 

 rot, when the words are heard while the bird is un- 

 seen, the articulation never so nearly imitates hu- 

 manity as to prevent the hearer from immediately 

 recognising the voice to be that of a bird; but were 

 the imitation perfect (supposing the bird still un- 

 seen), instead of a hearer going into a comparison 

 respecting the imitation, he would immediately in- 

 fer that the words " Pretty Poll" were uttered by 

 some person calling to a parrot, rather than suppose 

 them to be uttered by a bird. We recollect an in- 

 stance of a starling, which had been taught by an 

 Ayrshire hairdresser to repeat the words " Get up, 

 sir," with surprising correctness of articulation. 

 The tone of voice was husky and whispering, and 



