Thanks Jim! I always like song thrushes, especially at the dawn chorus!
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From: E.J. Fisher <ejf(a)jimella.co.uk>
To: Mike Caswell <mike(a)caswellplating.com>
Cc: CASWELL list server <caswell-l(a)rootsweb.com>; moonrakers
<moonrakers(a)ultra.net.au>
Subject: Re: Caswell Whistle!!
Date: Wednesday, February 25, 1998 4:29 PM
The only British bird I know of that can sometimes sound like that
whistle is the song thrush. It takes a short phrase like that,
repeats it two or three times, then does the same with another one,
then another. Each thrush has a repertoire of about five or six such
phrases and repeats each one it uses two or three times before going
on to another, apparently choosing them at random from those it
knows.
There's some evidence that they start with only one or two and learn
another one or two during each spring (presumably by listening to
other thrushes). They normally live three to five years.
How many thrushes actually use that particular phrase I've no idea,
but it is at least the right sort of thing for them to use. Seems
unlikely that your ancestor who started it copied it from a thrush
though. :-)
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