MIMICRY OF STARLING 213 



sound, it was swaying its whole body from side to 

 side in imitation of the movement of the bell." 



The late Mr. J. E. Anderson of Lilswood, 

 Hexham, wrote to me as follows : " I have several 

 times gone to the door to let in a cat it was only 

 a starling practising mewing ! They are very fond 

 of imitating the curlews, and do it well as far as 

 they go. 1 One of them was bothered the other 

 night in attempting to imitate the call of the par- 

 tridge : he failed miserably. There are two colonies 

 of starlings here. One bird claims the chimney 

 that is the one that imitates the curlews, cats, and 

 birds of notes dissimilar to his own. Another 

 claims some trees close to where he builds : his 

 imitations are confined to blackbirds, and a few 

 notes from the lark, mixed up in a very hearty 

 manner with his own song. Sometimes he is quite 

 jubilant ; and, did he not change from ' blackbird ' 

 to ' starling,' I could not distinguish him from a 

 blackbird. He hears the blackbirds in the adjoin- 

 ing plantation." 



The starlings near Stroud can generally imitate 



1 Mr. Harting informs me that when staying on a visit at Vagnol 

 Park, Bangor, close to the Menai Straits, where curlews are often seen, 

 and come into the park to rest at high tide, he was much struck with a 

 starling which used to sing every morning near the house, and give an 

 admirable imitation of the curlew's note. 



