MIMICRY 1593 



individually adapting their conduct to novel circum- 

 stances. Their beautiful and adroit contrivances of 

 nest-building are very familiar instances of the for- 

 mer, but many instances of the latter have been re- 

 corded. 



As to feelings, it is hardly necessary to refer to 

 their unexampled exhibition of sexual emotion in 

 song and dance, parade, and display, or to the mar- 

 velous parental love and sacrifice expressed in their 

 nest-building labors, in their prolonged incubation, 

 and in their care for and courage in defending their 

 brood. Subtler emotions of jealousy, both in connec- 

 tion with and altogether apart from sex, of affection 

 for owners or associations, of sympathy for wounded 

 or enfeebled fellows, are also not rarely exhibited. 

 That a bird singing continuously for hours does not 

 represent a rare height of emotion is not to be be- 

 lieved. It may be fairly said that the joyous song of 

 the lark "at heaven's gate" is an eloquent expression 

 of emotion only surpassed perhaps by human music. 



MIMICRY. DAVID ROBERTSON 



IN ordinary language a person who can imitate 

 the accent, manner of talking, and acting of an- 

 other is said to be a good mimic. In biology, how- 

 ever, the term mimicry is used in a metaphorical 

 sense, being applied to the resemblance which one 

 species of animal or- plant frequently shows to an- 

 other. This resemblance is usually of a protective 

 character. It is evident that if the resemblance which 

 a defenceless species of animal often has to a species 



