ORGANS OF VOICE. 57 



was supposed that it must have been bred near the spot, and 

 learned the cry from hearing the cocks.* 



The Goat-sucker, or Night-jar (or, as it is better known in 

 many places, the Wheel-bird, owing to its making a sound 

 much resembling a spinning-wheel), is a bird not uncommon 

 in this country during the summer months, frequenting heaths 

 and commons. The best time to hear it is about dusk, when 

 it may be cautiously approached, and discovered sitting with 

 its head downwards, repeating, for a considerable time, its 

 rough jarring cry. 



In foreign countries, however, there are birds possessing a 

 far greater power of imitation. We need scarcely mention the 

 Mocking-bird of North America at the head of the list ; so 

 widely spread over the world is its character, not only having 

 the power of imitating the note of every bird it hears, but also 

 that of animals and other sounds. It can bark like a dog, 

 mew like a cat ; then all of a sudden make the exact noise of 

 a trundling wheelbarrow; sometimes it will call the hens 

 together by screaming like a wounded chicken ; or entice the 

 house-dog from the fireside by whistling for it in its master's 

 well-known summons. 



There is a species of Crow in India which assembles in 

 flocks of about twenty or thirty, in the recesses of forests, and 

 whose note so exactly resembles the human voice in loud 

 laughing, that a person ignorant of the real cause would fancy 

 that a very merry party were close at hand. 



There is also a species of Skylark in India whose powers 

 of imitation are described as astonishing. One of these birds 

 had so completely learned the wailing cry of a Kite soaring in 

 the air, that, although the Lark's cage was in a room and 

 within a few feet of the listener, he could scarcely persuade 

 himself that the cry he heard did not, in reality, proceed from 

 a distant Kite. They are taught by being carried daily to the 

 fields and groves, in close-covered cages, and are so prized that 

 a fine, well-instructed bird has been known to sell for 4I. 



We have spoken of our English Goat-suckers, but there are 

 * See Mag. Nat. Hist., vol. iv. p. 343. 



