January 31, 1902 ] 



SCIENCE. 



179 



of the mocking-bird in this particular is 

 traditional. A few other instances seem 

 worthy of record. 



A catbird {G. carolinensis) that nested 

 in the immediate vicinity of my house 

 in the season of 1900 reproduced the call 

 of the whip-poor-will {A. vociferus) so 

 perfectly that it was difficult to induce 

 members of my family and visitors who 

 heard the reproduction to credit the fact 

 that it was not the whip-poor-will singing. 

 A friend who knew nothing about the cat- 

 bird as an agent in the performance and 

 who had not had her attention called to the 

 matter in any way told me that she had 

 heard a whip-poor-^vill singing near my 

 house repeatedly in the day time, and 

 wished to know if this was the ordinary 

 habit of the bird. In a residence of some 

 twenty years in this locality I have never 

 heard whip-poor-wills nearer to the point 

 in question than three miles. 



The following case of a wild rose- 

 breasted grosbeak {Z. ludoviciana) talk- 

 ing is well attested. I quote from Emily 

 B. Pellet, "Worcester, Mass., in Bird-Lore, 

 Vol. III., No. 5, p. 174, October, 1901, as 

 follows: " Early last summer, while stand- 

 ing on my back steps, I heard a cheerful 

 voice say, 'You're a pretty bird. Where 

 are you?' I supposed it to be the voice of 

 a parrot, but wondered how any parrot 

 could talk loud enough to be heard at that 

 distance, for the houses on the street back 

 of us are quite a way off. 



' ' Almost before I had done laughing, 

 the voice came again, clear, musical and 

 strong— 'You're a pretty bird. Where are 

 you?' 



' ' For several days I endured the sus- 

 pense of waiting for time to investigate. 

 Then I chased him up. There he was in 

 the top of a walnut tree, his gorgeous attire 

 telling me immediately that he was a rose- 

 breasted grosbeak. 



"At the end of a week he varied his 



compliment to ' Pretty, pretty bird, where 

 are you? Where are you?' With a kind of 

 impatient jerk on the last you. 



' ' He and his mate stayed near us all 

 last summer, and though I heard him talk 

 a hundred times, yet he always brought a 

 feeling of gladness and a laugh. 



' ' Our friend has come back again this 

 spring. About May 1 I heard the same 

 endearing compliment as before. 



' ' Several of my friends whom I have 

 told about him have asked, ' Does he say 

 the words plainly? Do you mean that he 

 really talks ? ' My reply is, ' He. says them 

 just as plainly as a bird ever says any- 

 thing, so plainly, that even now I laugh 

 whenever I hear him. ' ' ' 



Space will not allow the further elabo- 

 ration of this part of the subject. 



The second division, that of education of 

 birds in song and speech by man, is also 

 well knovra. The bullfinch's {Pyrrhida 

 europma) ability to learn to whistle airs 

 with great accuracy and precision, as well 

 as the peculiar quality and charm of its 

 voice, has arrested the attention of all ob- 

 servers and has been cultivated for more 

 than a century. Few of us, however, real- 

 ize that only wild birds hand-reared from 

 a very early age are educated in this ac- 

 complishment, and it is worthy of special 

 notice that wild bullfinches have little or no 

 song, and may be compared with the Eu- 

 ropean sparrow (P. domesticus) as a song- 

 ster. Starlings {Sturnus vulgaris) are 

 well known as birds susceptible not only 

 of learning to whistle simple melodies, but 

 as rivals of parrots in reproducing with 

 great distinctness short sentences. Parrots 

 are proverbial as talkers, singers and 

 whistlers. Canary birds have frequently 

 been recorded as learning to whistle simple 

 tunes, and there are a number of well- 

 attested accounts of their reproducing vsrith 

 precision short sentences. Jays, crows 

 and magpies also talk and whistle vdth 



