Page:Territory in Bird Life by Henry Eliot Howard (London, John Murray edition).djvu/214

156 with a special instrument in virtue of which it produces its characteristic melody. But there is a very remarkable phenomenon connected with the singing of birds which shows that this is really not the case—I mean the phenomenon of imitation. There are plenty of good imitators amongst our native species, and the power of imitation is not the exclusive property of those which have reached a high degree of vocal development, nor, for the matter of that, of song-birds at all. Even the Jay, than' which few birds have a more raucous voice, that "hoots" like the Wood-Owl, or copies the sounds produced by the tail feathers of the Snipe, will occasionally imitate the most melodious strains of some other species; and the Red-backed Shrike, whose sexual call is principally a few harsh notes rapidly repeated, bursts at times into perfect imitations of the song of the Swallow. Linnet, or Chaffinch. Nevertheless it is amongst such typical songsters as the Warblers that we find the greatest volume of imitation, and no limit seems to be placed upon their capacity. The Marsh- Warbler can utter the call of the Green Woodpecker, or sing as the Nightingale does, with as much facility as it sings its own song; and the Blackcap is well-nigh as proficient in copying the cries and melodies of surrounding species—and so, if it were necessary, we might proceed to add to the list.

These examples demonstrate that different songs are not represented by a corresponding