113 
POPULAR HISTORY OF BIRDS. 
men was in a house in Bloom sbury^ where the cries of the 
street mingled curiously with the songs of larks^ the chirping 
of sparrows^ and the notes of different caged birds^ from 
magpies to Virginia nightingales/^ To any unusual 
sound that reached his ear he seemed to listen, as if to take 
it in, and soon gave utterance to a close imitation of part of 
it, generally ending however with very different notes. The 
sounds in London streets are so various, that they must defy 
any mocking-bird. ilson describes the mocking-bird in a 
domesticated state in places less populous than London : — 
He whistles for the dog ; Csesar starts up, wags his tail, 
and runs to meet his master. He squeaks out like a hurt 
chicken, and the hen hurries about with hanging wings, and 
bristled feathers, clucking to protect its injured brood. The 
barking of the dog, the mewing of the cat, the creaking of 
a passing wheelbarrow, follow with great truth and rapidity. 
He repeats the tune taught him by his master, though of 
considerable length, fully and faithfully. He runs over the 
quiverings of the canary, and the clear whistlings of the 
Virginia nightingale, or red-bird, with such superior execu- 
tion and effect, that the mortified songsters feel their own 
inferiority, and become altogether silent, while he seems to 
triumph in their defeat by redoubling his exertions/^ 
