316 HABITS OF BIRDS. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



IMITATION AND MIMICRY OF BIRDS. 



" MIMICRY," says Lord Chesterfield, " which is the 

 common and favourite amusement of little, low 

 minds, is in the utmost contempt with great ones. 

 It is the lowest and most illiberal of all buffoonery ; 

 we should neither practise it, nor applaud it in 

 others *." Yet, in despite of his lordship's autho- 

 rity, mimicry and imitation are and will be practised, 

 and relished and applauded, so long 1 as men con- 

 tinue to receive pleasure from exercising their minds 

 in making comparisons ; for this exercise is always 

 pleasing in proportion to the activity of mind, or the 

 flow of associated ideas thereby produced perhaps 

 the true origin indeed of all our mental pleasures. 



All this may be true so far as it goes but the 

 pleasure of making comparisons is only a particular 

 instance of the pleasure we have in perceiving simi- 

 litude in dissimilitude or sameness combined with 

 variety ; and this is the true principle of the pheno- 

 menon under consideration. 



If we hear a parrot utter an imitation of the 

 words " Pretty Poll," we immediately trace a series 

 of resemblances or differences between the pronun- 

 ciation of the words by the parrot and by a man ; 

 and if the bird comes near the sound, we are 

 pleased in tracing the resemblance, while we admire 

 the successfulness of the effort in accomplishing 

 what might be previously supposed a difficult task 

 for a bird the overcoming of any difficulty having 

 * Letters, vol. ii. 



