IMITATION AND MIMICRY. 201 



the first time we heard it from the bird, hanging in 

 a dark corner of the shop, we could not imagine 

 whence the words proceeded, and were led to fancy 

 that it might be some idiot boy repeating, as is com- 

 mon in such cases, his favourite phrase ; but no 

 sooner did we learn the truth, than the correctness 

 of the execution became a matter of comparison 

 and of wonder. 



But whatever may be the cause of the pleasure 

 we take in hearing such imitations by birds, both of 

 the sounds of one another and of animals of a dif- 

 ferent order, they are in many cases possessed of 

 considerable interest. In Kent, Norfolk, and some 

 other parts of England, the black-cap and the fau- 

 vette (Philomela hortenfis) are both called the mock 

 nightingale, under the notion, probably, of their im- 

 itating its song; but no person who is well ac- 

 quainted with the nightingale's song could for a mo- 

 ment suppose the notes of either of these two birds 

 to be an imitation of it, though they are both de- 

 lightful songsters, and one of each species, at the 

 time we write this, is trying to excel the other, in 

 the garden opposite to our study. 



Another English bird, the sedgebird (Rip&cola 

 salicaria), is represented as a genuine mockbird. 

 " The artificial notes," it has been remarked, " which 

 wild birds acquire by imitation, are seldom alto- 

 gether perfect, and may, in most cases, be recog- 

 nised as imitations. This remark is confirmed by 

 the fact, that mockbirds, which may be considered 

 as having no natural songs of their own, cannot go 

 through with any set of notes without introducing 

 tones foreign to the notes they are imitating. The 

 mockbird of this country" (Ripacola salicaria), 

 " whose retired habits cause it to be but little at- 

 tended to, may be heard hurrying over in succes- 

 sion the song of the wren, wagtail, and skylark, the 

 twitter of the swallow, and the chirp of the spar- 

 row and the chaffinch ; but it often introduces a deep 



