the blackbird's whistle — a brief encounter with Italo Calvino
After having listened carefully to the whistle of the blackbird, he tries to repeat it, as faithfully as he can. A puzzled silence follows, as if his message required careful examination; then an identical whistle re-echoes. Mr Palomar does not know if this is a reply to his, or the proof that his whistle is so different that the blackbirds are not the least disturbed by it and resume their dialogue as if nothing had happened. They go on whistling, questioning in their puzzlement, he and the blackbirds
from Mr. Palomar, Italo Calvino, Harvest Books, International Edition 1985