162 BIRDS OF THE COUNTRYSIDE 



the sharp call-note of the chaffinch, the family calls 

 of the tits, a syllable or two from the yellow-hammer's 

 reedy epigram, and various notes from the repertory 

 of blackbird and throstle. 



He also imitates his brethren, and this conscious and 

 social mimicry may be the prelude in the future to 

 deliberate chorus singing, two actual examples of which, 

 I believe, have been recorded. The crested screamer 

 of the pampas of La Plata (see Hudson) undoubtedly 

 did so sing in orderly pause and rhythmic unison. 



But like the jay, and unlike the marsh warbler, the 

 starling is an ambitious amateur, and his naive echoes 

 of the feathered poets are usually not more than 

 plausible. I doubt whether he imitates other bird-songs 

 for any other reason than to add to his inexhaustible 

 larder of expression. Some observers have attempted 

 to disentangle the various objects from the sounds 

 representing them. Such naturalism is not for me. 

 When a band of performing starlings is congregated, 

 I remember Walter Crane's atrocious wood-engraving 

 of " The Triumph of Labour," and at once the pro- 

 cession starts. The tabors are sounded, the cymbals 

 crash, women kiss their babes with resounding smacks, 

 the cartwheels crunch over the ground, and the harness 

 of the oxen creaks in a joj^ul medley of sound. 



December Wth. — I came upon about thirty redwings 

 to-day, volleying loud cries in a large holly, occasionally 

 raising their wings to display the deep chestnut of the 

 flanks and under wing-coverts and softening their notes 

 on taking flight. The " feltie " is a hardy bird, and so 

 little of an epicure in his diet that he can stand our 

 winters with the best of them. But the delicate and 

 fastidious redwing, how is it that he does not migrate 

 further south when he leaves his northern pines, or for 

 that matter leaves us when the sun comes our way 

 once more ? He is the smallest of the British thrushes, 

 and though such a Northerner, the frailest (he does feed 

 on berries because I have seen him do so). In severe 

 weather, consequently, it goes very hard with him. 

 Certainly, his ways are not the least of the mysteries 

 of migration. It may be that he migrated to England 



