56 ADVENTURES AMONG BIRDS 



this before. Yet it does not stand alone, except in 

 form; any day and every day we may see acts in 

 other species of social disposition or habits, which are 

 undoubtedly inspired by a similar spirit. Little sham 

 quarrels and flights and chases ; we see them squaring 

 up to one another with threatening gestures and 

 language; playing little practical jokes too, as when 

 one approaches another in a friendly way and subtly 

 watches him to snatch a morsel from his beak; or 

 when another pretends to have found something ex- 

 ceptionally good and makes a great fuss about it to 

 deceive a comrade, and when the other carries the 

 joke further by capturing and carrying off the bit of 

 dry stick or whatever it is, and pretending to feast 

 on it with great satisfaction. These and a hundred 

 other little playful acts of the kind are common 

 enough and mingle with and are like a part of the 

 food-getting or other business of the moment. 



The strangeness of the plover's performance was 

 due to the singular form which play in them almost 

 invariably takes — the military discipline in all their 

 movements, their drumming sounds and commanding 

 cries, the tremendous formality of it all! The two 

 birds were like little children pretending to be some 

 mighty personages who owned everything and lorded 

 it over the others. They were dispensers of the 

 water of the lake, and were graciously pleased to 

 allow any thirsty bird that came to drink and bathe, 

 but only after the proper ceremonies had been per- 

 formed; also the drinking and bathing had to be 

 cut rather short on this occasion. 



