26 o 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
finite variations, the ‘ wood-notes wild ’ of al¬ 
most every other singer in the vicinity. Nay, 
he does not stop with imitations of his feathered 
compeers, but repeats with equal facility and 
correctness all the sounds which come to his 
ear, whether from animate or inanimate sources. 
Robin and wren, thrush and sparrow, bluebird 
and lark, hawk and crow, hear their native 
tongues, whether in song or outcry, croak or 
scream, repeated with an exactness of modu¬ 
lation which deceives them all. When domes¬ 
ticated there are few sounds, in doors or out, 
which this bird will not aptly reproduce. He 
whistles and laughs in mimicry of his human 
neighbors; mews and barks with cat and dog; 
repeats the grinding of the coffee-mill or sharp 
crisp rip of the saw, and the hundred and one 
other varied sounds of a busy household. Mr. 
Wilson, in his fascinating book on birds, thus 
sets forth the marvellous ability of this delight¬ 
ful woodland vocalist: 
“ ‘ In his native groves, mounted on the top 
of a tall bush or half-grown tree, in the dawn 
of dewy morning, while the woods are already 
vocal with a multitude of warblers, his admir¬ 
able song rises pre-eminent over every compe- 
