INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENT 197 



THE SEDGE-WARBLER 



A total number of 281 instances of imitation 

 given by nine sedge -warblers heard during the 

 same period revealed their preferences as follows : 



T tal 



Bird imitated - - 



instances. imitating the cry. 



House-sparrow . ,; . 42 9 



Chaffinch . % . . , 24 8 



Starling ..... 20 8 



Blackbirds' alarm ... 19 7 



Wagtails' cry .... 18 6 



Swallow ..... 21 5 



The tables above set out appeared in The 

 Zoologist for July 1890. In them the "tree- 

 pipit" appears as the " meadow -pipit," an error 

 not due to inaccuracy in identifying the note, but 

 in identifying the bird. I credited the statements 

 of others in regard to this matter. The meadow- 

 pipit is not very frequent near Stroud, but every 

 year several pairs nest in the vicinity. 



All the thrushes, robins, starlings, larks, and 

 sedge-warblers, whose imitations are mentioned in 

 the above tables, were heard within ten miles of 

 Stroud, in which neighbourhood all the birds 

 imitated abound. The nuthatch frequents the 

 meadow elms, and is vocal throughout late autumn, 



