BIBDS AND THE AETS 115 



upon his fund of intelligence when he left his instinct 

 cheque book behind in the wilds. Among the higher 

 animals, intelligence is ever at the elbow of instinct, to 

 overseer it, to help it over an unexpected stile, to correct 

 it, to lend it a hand, and, if need be, to take its place. 

 (See notes on "death-feigning" and "wasps.") Notice 

 the bird's preference for bright colours and the education 

 by experience in building the second nest. Prebendary 

 Lambrick's charmer is like an artistic child. 



STABLINGS IN NEW ZEALAND 



It may interest you to hear that the starling keeps its 

 reputation here as a "mocking bird," and like a good 

 colonist adapts itself to altered circumstances. A few 

 days ago I heard one imitating perfectly the cry of the 

 weka (OcydromusY As these birds are no longer found 

 within miles of Christchurch , it was a puzzle to think 

 where the bird had heard it, until I learnt that an 

 acquaintance a few streets away had recently got one as 

 a pet. I imagine only individual birds become great 

 performers. Our starling is a fine handsome fellow, 

 whose favourite perch is close to the gate. The last two 

 Septembers, when the whitebait swarm up the rivers, our 

 bird gives a very good rendering of the " Whitebet, White- 

 bet " of the old Italian fisherman passing along the 

 street. The distant clamour of seagulls flying far over- 

 head is given so realistically that I have often looked up 

 expecting to see them. At up-country homesteads I have 

 often heard starlings bleat like young lambs, and my son- 

 in-law tells me he was thoroughly deceived by a starling 

 whose soft sotto voce bark so exactly resembled that of a 

 dog far away that he twice climbed to the top of a hill, 

 under the impression that a young collie he was training 

 was " rounding up " sheep on his own account. The dog 

 in question had a very peculiar bark. All this mimicry 



