174 



Bird - Lore 



WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH DISPLAYING 

 In this case it was to drive another bird away from the feed 



food-shelf long enough to remove the seed coat from the seed so that it will 

 be ready to eat, but this is by no means a regular part of the ceremony. The 

 display of the little Chickadee is very similar, though apparently with less 

 bravado, for his is a different nature. 



But the courtship of birds is not complete with song and fighting and dis- 

 play. There are many birds which supplement their displays with curious 

 evolutions in the air, with what well might be called dances, and with other 

 performances that will have to be called 'antics' for want of a better word. 

 The European Skylark and our own Horned Larks mount high in the air, and, 

 after hovering and singing for a few moments, close the wings and drop like 

 stones to the earth, catching themselves when only a few feet from the hard 

 ground, and saving themselves from apparent destruction. The Woodcock, 

 as dusk falls, mounts, likewise, high in the air and then zigzags back to earth 

 on set wings producing a winnowing sound by the wind rushing through his 

 attenuated primaries. The Wilson's Snipe gathers momentum as he sweeps 

 high over the marsh and has seemed to me to turn over on his back while on 

 set wings, producing a somewhat similar sound to that of the Woodcock, sup- 

 posedly by the air rushing through the spread tail-feathers. The Marsh Hawk 

 'loops the loop' over the spot in the marsh where the female is perching, some- 

 times making several loops in succession, like gigantic somersaults. The 

 ecstatic flight-song of the Ovenbird is no less thrilling, though, because it is 

 given most often in the dead of night, the singer is seldom seen when he leaves 

 his lowly roost and mounts high over the trees, pouring forth a melody so 

 different from his ordinary song of 'teacher -teacher -teacher' that one would 

 never guess its composer were it not for the fact that as it falls back to the trees 

 it finishes with its customary notes. 



