84 BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



amuse himself, as it seems, in a peculiarly leisurely 

 and one may say indolent manner, perched on a 

 bush, from time to time emitting a note or two, then 

 a phrase which, if it pleases him, he will repeat two 

 or three or half a dosen times ; then, after a pause, 

 other notes and phrases, and so on, pretty well all 

 day long* This manner of singing is irritating, like 

 the staccato song of our throstle, to a listener who 

 wants a continuous stream of song ; but it becomes 

 exceedingly interesting when one discovers that the 

 bird is thinking very much about his own music, 

 if one can use such an expression about a bird ; 

 that he is all the time experimenting, trying to get 

 a new phrase, a new combination of the notes he 

 knows and new notes. Also, that when sitting on his 

 bush and uttering these careless chance sounds, he 

 is at the same time intently listening to the others, 

 all engaged in the same way, singing and listening* 

 You will see them all about the place, each bird 

 sitting motionless, like a grey and white image of a 

 bird, on the summit of his own bush. For although 

 he is not gregarious, as a rule a number of pairs live 

 near each other and form a sort of loose community. 

 The bond that unites them is their music, for not 

 only do they sit within hearing distance but they 

 are perpetually mimicking each other. One may say 

 that they are accomplished mimics, but prefer 

 mimicking their own to other species. But they only 



