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As all or most singing birds learn their songs from the adults of thesame species, it is not strange that there should be a good deal of whatwe call mimicry in their performances: we may say, in fact, that prettywell all the true singers are mimics, but that some mimic more thanothers. Thus, the starling is more ready to borrow other birds' notesthan the thrush, while the marsh-warbler borrows so much that hissinging is mainly composed of borrowings. The nightingale is, maybe,an exception. His voice excels in power and purity of sound, and what wemay call his artistry is exceptionally perfect; this may account for thefact that he does not borrow from other birds' songs. I should say, frommy own observation, that all songsters are interested in the singing ofother species, or at all events, in certain notes, especially the moststriking in power, beauty, and strangeness. Thus, when the cuckoo startscalling, you will see other teeny birds fly straight to the tree andperch near him, apparently to listen. And among the listeners you willfind the sparrow and tits of various species--birds which are nevervictimized by the cuckoo, and do not take him for a hawk since they takeno notice of him until the calling begins. The reason that the doublefluting call of the cuckoo is not mimicked by other birds is that theycan't; because that peculiar sound is not in their register. Thebubbling cry is reproduced by both the marsh warbler and the starling.Again, it is my experience that when a nightingale starts singing, thesmall birds near immediately become attentive, often suspending theirown songs and some flying to perch near him, and listen, just as theylisten to the cuckoo. Birds imitate the note or phrase that strikes themmost, and is easiest to imitate, as when the thrush copies the pipingand trilling of the whiteshank and the easy song of the ring-ouzel, which,when incorporated into his own music, harmonizes with it perfectly. Buthe cannot flute, and so never mimics the yellowbird's song, although hecan and does, as we have seen, imitate its chuckling cry.