Nov., 1922 MUSICAL ‘‘TASTE”’ IN THE BROWN TOWHEE 197 
other species. Where would the bird find material for its song if not through 
hearing it? New phrases in the human language are made up of old words, and 
the same thing holds in bird song. It would be impossible for a bird to ‘‘invent”’ 
or ‘‘originate’’ a song. But all of this is too obvious to require discussion. The 
elements of bird song must have pre-existed; they must have been first heard 
and then reproduced. In their ultimate analysis they must have been physical, 
derived from insensate sources and inanimate features of earth and the ele- 
ments, or the involuntary and accidental movements of primitive voiceless 
things, animal or vegetable. But all of this is ‘‘another story’’ for which see 
Witchell (pp. 181-186). Coming back to what Witchell calls (p. 177) ‘‘that 
imitative tendency which is latent if not evident, in nearly every bird with any 
pretensions to a song’’—let us ask again: What does song imitation (or elabora- 
tion) mean (if anything) in the social economy of bird life? 
If the bird is in no wise responsible for anything that he does but is sus- 
tained in all acts by an ultimate cause, then it is perhaps vain to look for the 
meaning in his behavior. But if we conceive that the bird displays some con- 
sciousness of its own behavior, some intelligence of its own (even though it be a 
mere image of the greater intelligence, an effect worshipfully endeavoring to 
ape its cause) then we can at least observe the behavior of this ‘‘image’’ and 
come to some conclusion as to what 2 is trying to do and why. If we form some 
estimate of the bird’s apparent intelligence, as we see it at work, we may gain 
a hint as to the true purpose that is being expressed or reflected therein. 
To take an example of imitation in its most striking manifestation, let us 
turn for a few moments from the Brown Towhee to the Mockingbird. This 
bird, according to Lloyd Morgan (p. 193) represents a stage of ‘‘intelligent 
imitation, arising in close connection with interest in the doings of others 
.’. The three stages (as illustrated by the human child) are, ‘‘ First, the 
instinctive stage, where the sound which falls upon the ear is a stimulus to the 
motor-mechanism of sound production. Secondly, the intelligent stage of the 
profiting by chance experience. ... If we assume that the resemblance of the 
sounds he utters to the sounds he hears is itself a source of pleasurable satisfae- 
tien (and this certainly seems to be the case), intelligence, without the aid of 
any higher faculty, will secure accommodation and render imitation more and 
more perfect. And this appears to be the stage reached by the mockingbird or 
parrot. But the child soon goes farther. He reflects upon the results he has 
reached ...’’. Professor Morgan adds that ‘‘of intentional and reflective 
imitation there is at present no satisfactory evidence in any animal below man’’. 
Let us examine a typical song of the Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos leu- 
copterus), one recorded by mein the San Joaquin Valley, near Mendota, Fresno 
County, California, June 20, 1918. During a period of listening I recorded 
eleven “‘original’’ or un-imitated and nine imitated parts. The imitated parts, 
rendered in a manner that ranged from fair to perfect, were unmistakably 
referable to the following birds: Traill Flycatcher, English Sparrow, Western 
Belted Kingfisher, Ash-throated Flycatcher, Sparrow Hawk, California Cuckoo, 
California Shrike, Red-shafted Flicker, and Killdeer—all, by the way, birds 
present in the habitat of this individual Mocker. In addition to these notes the 
bird uttered several others which suggested the notes of other species without 
being quite enough like them to be fairly called imitations. 
i Whenever I hear a Mockingbird sing I cannot help wondering just where, 
if anywhere, the line can be drawn between the second and the third stage de- 
