10 TURDID^E. 



music came in a continuous stream, until I marvelled that the throat of 

 any bird could sustain so powerful and varied a song for so long a time, 

 it was never once degraded by the harsh cries, fantastical nights, and 

 squealing buffooneries so frequently introduced by the Calandria, but 

 every note was in harmony and uttered with a rapidity and joyous 

 abandon no other bird is capable of, except, perhaps, the Sky-Lark ; 

 while the purity of the sounds gave to the whole performance something 

 of the ethereal rapturous character of the Larf s song when it comes 

 to the listener from a great height in the air. 



Presently this flow of exquisite unfamiliar music ceased, while I still 

 remained standing amongst the trees, not daring to move for fear of 

 scaring away the strange vocalist. After a short interval of silence I 

 had a fresh surprise. From the very spot whence that torrent of melody 

 had issued, burst out the shrill, confused, impetuous song of the small 

 yellow-and-grey Patagonian Flycatcher (Stigmatura flavo-cinerea) . It 

 irritated me to hear this familiar and trivial song after the other, and I 

 began to fear that my entertainer had flown away unobserved. But in 

 another moment, from the same spot, came the mellow matin-song of 

 the Diuca Finch, and this was quickly succeeded by the silvery bell-like 

 trilling song of the Churrinche, or little Scarlet Tyrant-bird. Then fol- 

 lowed many other familiar notes and songs the flute-like evening-call 

 of the Crested Tinamou, the gay hurried twittering of the Black-headed 

 Goldfinch, and the leisurely-uttered, delicious strains of the Yellow 

 Cardinal, all repeated with miraculous fidelity. How much was my 

 wonder and admiration increased by the discovery that my one sweet 

 singer had produced all these diverse strains ! The discovery was 

 only made when he began to repeat songs of species that never visit 

 Patagonia. I knew then that I was at last listening to the famed 

 White Mocking-bird, just returned from his winter travels, and repeat- 

 ing in this southern region the notes he had acquired in subtropical 

 forests a thousand miles away. 



These imitations at length ceased, after which the sweet vocalist 

 resumed his own matchless song once more. I ventured then to creep a 

 little nearer, and at length caught sight of him not fifteen yards away. 

 I then found that the pleasure of listening to its melody was greatly 

 enhanced when I could at the same time see the bird, so carried away 

 with rapture does he seem while singing, so many and so beautiful are 

 the gestures and motions with which his notes are accompanied. He 

 passes incessantly from bush to bush, scarcely alighting on their sum- 

 mits, and at times dropping down beneath the foliage ; then, at intervals, 

 soaring to a height of a hundred feet above the thicket, with a flight 

 slow as that of a Heron, or mounting suddenly upwards with a wild, 



