244 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. [June 



birds in May could be caught at any point up the Columbia 

 river, and once on board the steamer, could be fed as readily 

 as fowls. The fur-hunters term these birds spotted chickens. 

 They pair very early in the spring, ai^d their love meetings 

 are celebrated by remarkable festivities called Chicken Dances. 

 Their ball-room is a high round-topped mound, and the dancing 

 begins either at sunrise, or in the evening, and by the time that 

 the matrimonial arrangements are concluded, and the happy 

 pairs set off for their respective homes, the mound is trampled 

 down as bare as a road, Mr. Lord saw several of these dances, 

 and o-ives a very graphic report of the first which he witnessed. 

 Riding up into the hills early one spring morning, he heard the 

 peculiar chuck-chuck which indicated that a dance was in pro- 

 gress. Tying up his horse and dog, he crept towards the knoll 

 from whence the sound proceeded, and finally gained the shelter 

 of a stump, from whence, unperceived, he had an excellent view. 

 Like a true lover of Nature, he frankly admits the " joyous de- 

 light which the sight afforded him. There were," he observes, 

 " about eighteen or twenty birds present on this occasion, and it 

 was almost impossible to distinguish the males from the females, 

 the plumage being so nearly alike ; but I imagined the females 

 were the passive ones. The four birds nearest to me were head 

 to head, like game cocks in fighting attitude — the neck- feathers 

 ruffled up, the little sharp tail elevated straight on end, the wings 

 dropped close to the ground, but keeping up by vibration a con- 

 tinued throbbing or drumming sound. " They circled round and 

 round each other in slow waltzing-time, always maintaining the 

 same attitude, but never striking at or grappling with each 

 other ; then the pace increased, and one hotly pursued the other 

 until he faced about, and teted-tete went waltzing round again ; 

 then they did a sort of ' cure' performance, jumping about two 

 feet into the air until they were winded ; and then they strutted 

 about and struck an attitude, like an acrobat after a successful 

 tumble. There were others marching about, with their tails and 

 heads as high as they could stick them up, evidently doing the 

 heavy swell ; others, again, did not appear to have any well-defi- 

 ned ideas what they ought to do, and kept flying up and pitching 

 down again, and were manifestly restless and excited — perhaps 

 rejected suitors contemplating something desperate. The music to 

 this eccentric dance was the loud chuck-chuck continuously re- 

 peated, and the strange throbbing sound produced by the vibra- 



