14 O'DoNOGHTTF, No/es 0)1 Vicloyian Lvre-hiyd. [^.y 



Vict. Nat. 

 .XXXI 



piece of quartz or clay-slate that came hurtling into the 

 mound, and favovu' it with several tentative pecks. The 

 moment, however, I quitted the tip and advanced towards 

 the mound the i)ird would give utterance to several shrill, 

 tremulous cries and glide on expanded wings over the Blanket- 

 wood to some secluded spot near the margin of the stream in 

 the valley beneath. After the lapse of a short interval it 

 would re-apjiear on the outskirts of the scrub, and, if I was 

 not a conspicuous object in the landscape, resume its antics. 

 The female invariably delayed her departure from the nest 

 till I was at the dancing mound ; then she would spring off her 

 egg and, with partially open wings, run or hop to the nearest 

 covert, where, exposing herself at intervals, she would create 

 as much disturbance as a dozen of hungry farm-yard ducks. 

 The moment I withdrew she resumed her place on the nest, 

 and from beneath her over-arching tail feathers watched care- 

 fully for my reappearance. 



The cock bird adopts various attitudes when engaged 

 imitating the calls of other birds and when pirouetting on the 

 dancing moimd. One of the principal stock-in-trade j^ostures 

 I noted was that of holding the tail expanded at an elevation 

 of 45 degrees with the back, the head being low and the wings 

 partially open and drooping. Thus conditioned, the bird, 

 with rigid legs and toes, would spring forward as if on some 

 object on the dancing mound, and on ahghting emit a short, 

 shrill note that sounded like " Chick." The retrogressive move- 

 ment was equally as sudden. These two evolutions would be 

 persisted in till their repetition and the shrill sound accom- 

 panying the progressive action became wearisome to the 

 spectator. It has been stated by many that the hen birds 

 witness the jierformances by the male. Possibly they do. In 

 no instance, however, have I detected females in the vicinity 

 of a mound in use. Were they in the neighbourhood their 

 presence could not very well be overlooked, since, whatever 

 failings may be charged against them, they cannot lie accused 

 of the possession of a retiring disposition, or of inherent 

 muteness. 



My observations lead me to assume that every cock bird 

 has a regular beat, which he usually traverses in the early 

 part of the day and towards sunset. I have often sat and 

 noted the progress of a particular bird doing the round of its 

 whistling beds, or dancing mounds, and have frequently taken 

 uj) a position on a bed and stealthily awaited the bird's 

 ap]")roach ; but, though exercising the greatest caution in my 

 movements, no bird ever blundered into the circumscribed 

 area over which I maintained vigil. 



Many years previous to my visit to the locality under review 



