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From 'The riddle of the mockingbirds' by Alec
Chisholm in Victorian Naturalist, 1946, - Vol 63 (3): 57
Pipit (Anthus australis) - This
bird figures in my Ibis
paper of 1932 as the possessor of a spirited song,
uttered both at rest and on the wing, and
as an
occasional mimic of such birds as the Magpie, Raven,
Plover, etc. P.A. Bourke reinforced this
record ten years later by reporting in The Emu (42/184) that
while
occupying a photographic hide he saw and heard a Pipit,
perched near by, give admirable imitations of the notes of
eight species of the open spaces, including the
Wagtail...
Hearing a pipit making a plover (presumably
Masked Lapwing) call would be rather interesting. In the same paper
Chisholm notes Stubble Quail amongst other species being imitated by Singing
Bushlark. Now I'll have to find Bourke's article to see if Stubble Quail was one
of the eight species of the open spaces so admirably imitated by his pipit.
Steve
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