IMITATION AMONG TITS 135 



and, looking up, I saw a large black creature fly 

 out of it. Whether it was a crow or a jackdaw I 

 \vas not near enough to see, probably a crow, for 

 they abound here, and it must have been large and 

 powerful enough to carry away the eggs whole, 

 for there was not a vestige of one in the nest 

 when I next looked. The birds too went. Late in 

 the year the branch was cut off, and the remains of 

 the dead flowers were still hanging upon the nest, 

 which I have. 



April 27, 1878. 



Do not all birds imitate to some extent ? If 

 not, this is curious. I watched a cole tit singing 

 and hopping about close to my window the other 

 day in a rose bush. I learnt its note by heart 

 a triplet, rather wiry, and one emphasised higher 

 note at the end. Next day I heard it again on a 

 tree and went to look, the cole tit being rarer here 

 than the others, and lo, it was a blue tit doing it ! 

 I watched it for some time. It exerted itself 

 more than the cole tit, and the note was perhaps 

 rather less loud ; otherwise it was exactly the 

 same, and I heard the same thing to-day. Now 

 I know perfectly well the notes of the blue tit ; 

 it has several, but they are not like that. Was it 

 imitation ? I believe I heard a starling doing it 

 the other day at least, I could see no other bird 

 near, and it was louder than usual. 



