112 PHILLIDA AND CORIDON. 



make an eloquent description ; but I should 

 pity the man who could witness it with indiffer- 

 ence. Not that the robin's suit is always car- 

 ried on in the same way ; he is much too versa- 

 tile for that. On one occasion, at least, I saw 

 him holding himself absolutely motionless, in a 

 horizontal posture, staring at his sweetheart as 

 if he would charm her with his gaze, and emit- 

 ting all the while a subdued hissing sound. The 

 significance of this conduct I do not profess to 

 have understood ; it ended with his suddenly 

 darting at the female, who took wing and was 

 pursued. Not improbably the robin finds the 

 feminine nature somewhat fickle, and counts it 

 expedient to vary his tactics accordingly ; for 

 it is getting to be more and more believed that, 

 in kind at least, the intelligence of the lower 

 animals is not different from ours. 



I once came unexpectedly upon a wood 

 thrush, who was in the midst of a perform- 

 ance very similar to this of the robin ; standing 

 on the dead branch of a tree, with his crown 

 feathers erect, his bill set wide open, and his 

 whole body looking as rigid as death. His 

 mate, as I perceived the next moment, was 

 not far awa}^ on the same limb. If he was at- 

 tempting fascination, he had gone very clumsily 

 about it, I thought, unless his mate's idea of 

 beauty was totally different from mine ; for I 



