VOL. LXIII.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 449 



And here he again repeats, that what he describes is from a caged nightingale, 

 because those which we hear in the spring are so rank, that they seldom sing 

 any thing but short and loud jerks, which consequently cannot be compared to 

 the notes of a caged bird, as the instrument is overstrained. But it is not only 

 in tone and variety that the nightingale excels; the bird also sings with superior 

 judgment and taste. He has commonly observed, that his nightingale began 

 softly like the ancient orators; reserving its breath to swell certain notes, which 

 by this means had a most astonishing effect, and which eludes all verbal 

 description. 



It may not be improper here to consider, whether the nightingale may not have 

 a very formidable competitor in the American mocking bird; though almost all 

 travellers agree, that the concert in the European woods is superior to that of 

 the other parts of the globe. As birds are now annually imported in great 

 numbers from Asia, Africa, and America, Mr. B. has often attended to their 

 notes, both singly and in concert, which are certainly not to be compared to 

 those of Europe. It must be admitted, that foreign birds, when brought to 

 Europe, are often heard to a great disadvantage; as many of them, from their 

 great tameness, have certainly been brought up by hand. The soft billed birds 

 also cannot be well brought over, as the succedaneum for insects, their common 

 food, is fresh meat, and particularly the hearts of animals. 



Mr. B. has heard the American mocking bird in great perfection at Mess. 

 Vogle's and Scott's, in Love-lane, Eastcheap. This bird had been in England 

 6 years. During the space of a minute, he imitated the woodlark, chaffinch, 

 blackbird, thrush, and sparrow. He would also bark like a dog; so that the 

 bird seems to have no choice in his imitations, though his pipe comes nearest to our 

 nightingale of any bird yet met with. With regard to the original notes however 

 of this bird, we are still at a loss; as this can only be known by those who are 

 accurately acquainted with the song of the other American birds. Kalm indeed 

 informs us, that the natural song is excellent; but this traveller seems not to 

 have been long enough in America, to have distinguished what were the genuine 

 notes: with us, mimics do not often succeed but in imitations. Mr. B. has 

 little doubt however, but that this bird would be fully equal to the song of the 

 nightingale in its whole compass; but then, from the attention which the 

 mocker pays to any other sort of disagreeable noises, these capital notes would 

 always be debased by a bad mixture. 



We have one mocking bird in England, which is the skylark; as, contrary to 

 a general observation before made, this bird will catch the note of any other 

 which hangs near it; even after the skylark note is fixed. For this reason, the 

 bird fanciers often place the skylark next one which has not been long caught, 

 in order, as they term it, to keep the cage skylark honest. The question, 



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