Courtesy Massachusetts Commissioners on Fisheries and Game 



The Dance. — His beauties displayed, the heath c-ofk is a handsome fellow — if somewhat bizarre and 

 unbirdlike. The neck tufts may be erected and thrown forward over the head with the points together 

 like an inverted V 



unobstructed view. At first no heath 

 hens appeared. Red-winged bhickbirds 

 came and alighted on the blind, then 

 descended and fed on the corn. A 

 robin came, and it was interesting to 

 listen to the timbre of its well-known 

 notes at a distance of less than three 

 feet. At 4 : 40 the first heath hen ap- 

 peared, and soon the show began, but 

 no bird came very near the blind until 

 about five o'clock. Then for an hour 

 the dance went on all about me until 

 the superintendent appeared. This was 

 the signal for the end of the perform- 

 ance. The day was clear, the light ex- 

 cellent, and all conditions for observa- 

 tion were of the best. Only four 

 females came within my range of 

 vision, 1)ut from twenty to twenty-five 

 males were in sight constantly. Oc- 

 casionally a female picked up a little 

 corn, but the males did not feed. They 

 seemed to be obsessed with their own 

 antics and devoted themselves with 

 great enthusiasm to the dance. This 

 exercise consists of running, strutting, 

 bowing, posturing, cackling, calling, 

 flapping up and turning about in the 

 air, and even fighting a little from 

 time to time. All in all it is a great 

 28'' 



and exciting expression of the abouml- 

 ing energy of the species. While the 

 male is dancing the body is inclined 

 forward, the neck stretched out hori- 

 zontally with the bill pointed down- 

 ward, the plumage is fluffed, the tail 

 erected and spread more or less, the wings 

 drooping or partly spread downward 

 but tlic lowest of the separated pri- 

 mary (piills rarely reaches the ground. 

 The pinnates, or "neck tufts," are 

 erected like rabbit's ears, or thrown 

 away forward, over and in front of the 

 lowered head, with the points together 

 like an inverted V. In this position 

 the bird inflates the orange air sacs on 

 the sides of the neck, which sometimes 

 show pinkish or flesh color around the 

 edges, or even purplish at the upper 

 edge, but look much like small oranges 

 and are aljout the size of a tennis ball. 

 In some cases they appear more trian- 

 gular than round, but visually they 

 seem globular when seen in profile, and 

 project considerably on either side of 

 the neck. The yellow combs over the 

 eyes are enlarged also at the same time 

 and become turgid, while the bird 

 seems to increase in size. The white 

 tips of the tail coverts show like the 



