THE EVOLUTION OF BIRD -SONG. 243 



of a note were counted as one phrase. I have a large number 

 of untabulated records of bird- song, made in several districts, 

 including Gloucester, Clifton, Bournemouth, Malmesbury, Ciren- 

 cester, Bath, Weston-super-Mare, and Stroud, and from them 

 my inferences have been principally deduced. The tables relate 

 only to songs heard within eight miles of Stroud, including an 

 area of much physiographical diversity. The tables are far too 

 bulky for insertion in these pages, and only a few extracts from 

 them need now be produced. They show that the Thrushes 

 (about fifty) sang 1120 phrases, each of which comprised one or 

 more notes resembling the sounds made by other species, and 

 450 other phrases that had not a like recognisable similarity. 



The following table shows the numbers of the phrases in 

 which the six subjects most frequently imitated were mimicked 

 by, and by how many of, these Thrushes : — 



Bird imitated. 

 Nuthatch* 

 Wood Warbler ... 



Phrases including 

 imitation. 



136 



133 



Number of 

 imitative Thrushes. 



37 



37 



House Sparrow 

 Blackbird's alarm 

 Blue Tit 

 Great Tit 



103 



78 

 57 



47 



36 

 31 

 24 

 24 



The Redbreasts (about sixty-five) sang 1316 tabulated phrases, 

 905 of which were recognised as containing an imitation. The 

 following table shows the same particulars as those contained in 

 that above given : — 



Phrases including Number of imi- 



Bird imitated. imitation. tative Redbreasts. 



Blackbird ... ... 132 ... 47 



Coal Tit ... ... 89 ... 44 



Accentor ... ... 75 ... 42 



Greenfinch ... ... 79 ... 39 



Lark ... ... 99 ... 36 



Blackcap ... ... 57 ... 23 



The Larks (about thirty-one) sang 345 imitations, the most 

 frequent of which may be set out as follows : — 



* The tables do not record a sufficient number of imitations of notes 

 of the Nuthatch. In early spring I often passed, as not worth notice, 

 Thrushes whose notes then consisted almost entirely of modifications of the 

 cries of this bird. 



