72 HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS. 
When he saw me he broke off in the middle of the 
crowing. There is nothing particularly remarkable in 
the crowing of itself, for many birds imitate the 
sounds made by other animals. The curious fact about 
it was, that the bird would not crow in my presence, 
and would always stop when any one appeared to wit- 
ness the execution. I attributed his conduct to a feel- 
ing of shame, or to a sense of unfitness of that method 
of expression. Have we not in this another proof of 
the possession of animals of a psychical quality which 
it has been used to regard as peculiarly and distinctively 
human?” 
The blue-jay has considerable power of imitation, and 
frequently indulges in mimicry. One kept by a family 
whom I was visiting, would say “whoa” to the horse, 
sufficiently plain to stop the animal. If the bird was 
by the window, in sight of the gate, he was sure to call 
out “whoa” whenever the family horse was driven to 
the door. The jay never uttered the word to any horse 
except that of his master. 
In its wild state I have never heard a bobolink make 
a hissing noise, yet a tame one which we had in our 
possession, when disturbed or displeased, would hiss 
almost exactly like a goose. If a canary alighted on 
his cage, the bobolink would thrust out his head toward 
the intruder and hiss it off. Once, in a field, I heard a 
bobolink sing half the most common song of the 
American gold finch. Last summer I used often to walk 
across Portage High Bridge to the Letchworth woods, 
to listen to a remarkably fine-voiced wood-thrush, that 
