90 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



(Mr. Hepburn) has well described its powers in this 

 respect, and the misleading effect upon the ears of 

 those unacquainted with this peculiarity. " I pur- 

 sued one of these birds," he says, " in April, through 

 a narrow plantation. The first note I heard was 

 that of 'chur-r-r/ then 'chir-r-r;' it then imitated 

 very exactly the twink of the Chaffinch, the alarm 

 notes of the Robin and Wren, and the doleful ditty 

 of the Yellow Bunting ; next it produced a note of 

 its own, which it repeated incessantly as it sported 

 amongst the boughs of an old ash ; then it seemed 

 to forget this note, and emitted another, which also 

 was soon forgotten ; and, again, as if tired of its 

 own compositions, it essayed those of its more 

 musical brethren." " This Titmouse," he adds, 

 " was a great nuisance to me when I began to study 

 Ornithology, often leading me astray by his silly 

 productions, which I thought were the notes of 

 some bird new to me." 



We doubt not that many have been similarly 

 deceived ; and this only shows the importance, 

 indeed the necessity, of personal observation by 

 those who would make themselves thoroughly well 

 acquainted with the Natural History of birds. 



