74 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



always went straight to the same bush, because I 

 thought the bird that used it as his singing-place 

 appeared less shy than the others* One day I spent 

 a long time listening to this favourite, delightedly 

 watching him, perched on a low twig on a level with 

 my sight and not more than five yards from me, 

 his body perfectly motionless, but the head and wide- 

 open beak jerked from side to side in a measured 

 mechanical way* I had a side view of the bird, but 

 every three seconds the head would be jerked towards 

 me, showing the bright yellow colour of the open 

 mouth* The reeling would last about three minutes, 

 then the bird would unbend or unstiffen and take 

 a few hops about the bush, then stiffen and begin 

 again* While thus gazing and listening I by chance 

 met with an experience of that rare kind which 

 invariably strikes the observer of birds as strange 

 and almost incredible an example of the most 

 perfect mimicry in a species which has its own 

 distinctive song and is not a mimic except once in 

 a while and as it were by chance* The marsh warbler 

 is our perfect mocking-bird, our one professional 

 mimic, while the starling in comparison is but an 

 amateur* We all know the starling's ever-varying 

 performance in which he attempts a hundred things 

 and occasionally succeeds ; but even the starling 

 sometimes affects us with a mild astonishment, and 

 I will here give one instance* 



