NOTICEABLE INCIDENTS 67 



which one person performs at a time, the rest of 

 the company looking on ; and some birds in widely 

 separated genera have dances of the same kind. 

 A striking example is the Rupicola^ or cock of the 

 rock, of tropical South America. A mossy, level 

 spot of earth surrounded by bushes is selected for 

 a dancing-place, and kept well cleared of sticks and 

 stones. Around this area the birds assemble, when 

 a cock bird, with vivid orange-coloured crest and 

 plumage, steps into it, and, with spreading wings 

 and tail, begins a series of movements as if danc- 

 ing a minuet ; finally, carried away with excitement, 

 he leaps and gyrates in the most astonishing manner, 

 until, becoming exhausted, he retires and another 

 bird takes his place." 



4. Many phrases sung by the better singers 

 tend to rise in pitch towards the end. There are 

 abundant exceptions to this rule — for example, the 

 songs of the chaffinch, willow-wren, greenfinch, green 

 woodpecker, and others — but it prevails in songs 

 of the wood-warbler, nightingale, blackcap, golden- 

 crested wren, blackbird, and yellow bunting. 



5. Phrases are uttered with increasing vehe- 

 mence towards the close, as though the emotion which 

 caused them became intensified during expression. 

 In April the starling, with flapping wings, illustrates 



