BALTIMORE ORIOLE, OR GOLDEN ROBIN. 155 
an imitation of the discordant notes of some South Ameri- 
can bird. For many days she continued this tune at inter- 
vals without any variation. The male, also while seeking 
his food in the same tree with his mate, or while they are 
both attending on their unfledged brood, calls frequently 
in a low friendly whisper ’ twait , ’tw’it. Indeed, all the 
individuals of either sex, appear pertinaciously to adhere 
for weeks to the same quaint syllables which they have 
accidentally collected. 
This bird then, like the Starling, appears to haveataste 
for mimickry, or rather for sober imitation. A Cardinal 
Grosbeak happening, very unusually, to pay us a visit, 
his harmonious and bold whistle struck upon the ear of a 
Baltimore with great delight, and from that moment his 
ordinary notes were laid aside for 3 woit ’woit teu , and 
other phrases previously foreign to him for that season. 
I have likewise heard another individual exactly imitating 
the soft and somewhat plaintive vit yu , vit yiu of the same 
bird, and in the next breath the peut, or call of Wilson’s 
Thrush ; also, at times the earnest song of the Robin. 
Indeed his variations and imitations have sometimes led 
me to believe that I heard several new and melodious 
birds, and I was only undeceived when I beheld his bril- 
liant livery. So various, in fact, are the individual phrases 
chanted by this restless and lively bird, that it it scarcely 
possible to fix on any characteristic notes by which he may 
be recognised ; his singular, loud, and almost plaintive tone, 
and a fondness for harping long on the same string, are 
perhaps more peculiar than any particular syllables, which 
he may be heard to utter. When alarmed or offended 
at being too closely watched or approached, they both ut- 
ter an angry, rattling tsher tsh’r , or hiss, tsh 3 tsh 3 tsh 3 3 tsh. 
