e House-Sparrow, so exactly imitated in every respect that were
it not for what follows, no one would suppose it to be any other
bird. It is called a Mocking-Bird here, and it well deserves the
name, for it is a real scoffer at the sorrows of other birds,
which it laughs to scorn and turns into ridicule by parodying them
so exactly. I never heard it attempt to imitate any of the Larks
or Thrushes, although I have listened to it for hours.

This bird was very plentifully met with in Wharfdale ten years
ago, and is also found in this neighbourhood, but I am not aware
that anybody in either of these districts ever attempted to keep
one in confinement, although from their powers of imitation, I
think the experiment well worth trying; probably the idea that it
would be difficult to supply them with proper food has prevented
the experiment being made. (May 2nd, 1832.)

I am surprised that no other writer on Natural History has noticed
the wonderful imitative power of this bird. So far is the above
notice from overstating this bird's powers of imitation, that I
have scarcely enumerated half the notes which it hits off with
such wonderful exactness.

In listening to one the other day for about a quarter of an hour,
I heard it give three notes of the Swallow, two of the Martin, and
two of the Spring-Wagtail; and in addition, notes of the House-
Sparrow, Whinchat, Starling, Chaffinch, Whitethroat, Greenfinch,
Little Redpole, and Whin-Linnet, besides the notes of half-a-dozen
birds which I did not know; at least, a reasoning from analogy
would induce me to think them imitations, and I have no right to
suppose they were not because I did not happen to recognize them.
I am not strictly correct when I say that it only imitates the
alarm-notes (called here fretting-notes) of other birds, for
although this is generally the case, it is not invariably so. For
instance, in addition to the alarm-note of the Swallow, _chizzic,
chizzic_, it also had the _whit, whit_, which the Swallow uses
when flying about, and the chatter of self-satisfaction (not the
song) which one often hears in a barn when two Swallows are
arranging their plan of operations in the spring. Again, in
addition to the shriek of the Martin, there was the note which it
utters when on the wing in pursuit of its food. There was also the
chirrup of the Greenfinch, and the _whee, whee, whee_ which is the
climax of the Linnet's song, by which it is so irresistible as a
call-