NATURE'S CAROL SINGERS. 



its notes may be heard half a mile 

 away. 



If not the most imitative of all British 

 birds, it comes very close to the holding 

 of that distinction, and can not only 

 mimic some notes as well as their owners 

 can deliver them, but actually improve 

 upon their volume and sweetness. The 

 Ringed Plover and the French Partridge 

 are two examples. I have heard the 

 Throstle reproduce the notes of the fol- 

 lowing species : Common Curlew, Whim- 

 brel, Dunlin, Peewit, Golden Plover, 

 Common Tern, Redshank, Ringed Plover, 

 French Partridge, and Common Sparrow, 

 besides those of several others. 



Thrushes vary not only individually as 

 musicians, but in different parts of the 

 country, I am persuaded. Some of the 

 finest singers I have heard have been in 

 Surrey, Cheshire, and Aberdeenshire. 



The poets have given this species a 

 good deal of deserved attention on 

 account of the excellence of its song, and 

 everyone who has had any experience 

 whatever of the country and its wild life 

 in springtime will at once recognise the 

 truth and beauty of the following lines: 



" Through the hazels thick espy 

 The hatching throstle's shining eye." 



210 



