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warbling vireo, a blue jay singing exactly the song of a Balti- 

 more oriole, another reproducing the whisper-song of the cat- 

 bird in October, and a catbird giving the note of the crested 

 flycatcher. The blue jay often utters a cry like that of the 

 red-shouldered hawk. 



I have heard from the marshy border of a river notes exactly 

 like some produced by the flicker and the bobwhite, which I 

 was forced to attribute to a sora rail. Mr. Henry Oldys of 

 Silver Spring, Maryland, informs me that he has heard the 

 note of the towhee given by a Bewick's wren and a song spar- 

 row; those of the cardinal grosbeak, wood thrush and red- 

 winged blackbird by the catbird; those of the phoebe by a 



Two imitators — the starling and the catbird. 



shrike and a chickadee (not the so-called phoebe song of the 

 chickadee, but a much closer imitation that so deceived him 

 that he recorded the phoebe's arrival prematurely for four 

 successive years). He asserts that he has seen the black and 

 white warbler utter the note of the chipping sparrow, the red- 

 eyed vireo imitate the wood thrush, and the yellow-breasted 

 chat mimic the bobwhite. The mockingbird, which imitates 

 many species, is rare in Massachusetts, but the European star- 

 ling is fast becoming abundant. It mocks the meadowlark 

 and other birds, and there are starlings with powers of mimicry 

 second only to those of the mockingbird. 



INIr. Adrian P. Whiting of Plymouth records that on March 2, 

 1919, he watched some starlings, one or more of which imitated 

 the English sparrow, red-winged blackbird, blue jay, barn 

 swallow, red-shouldered hawk, bobwhite, purple martin, wood 



