40 



BIRD WATCHING 



the empty air. Or the two will bow at different 

 times, each seeming more concerned in making his 

 bow than in the direction or bestowal of it. It is 

 like a little interlude, and when it is over the com- 

 batants advance, again, against each other, till they 

 stand front to front, and quite close. Both, then, 

 make a little jump, and battle vigorously with their 



Stock-doves : A Duel with Ceremonies 



wings, striking and parrying. One now makes a 

 higher spring, trying, apparently, to jump on to his 

 opponent's back, and then strike down upon him. 

 This is all plain, honest fighting, but there is a con- 

 stant tendency — constantly carried out — for the two 

 to get into line, and fight in a sort of follow-my-leader 

 fashion, whilst making these low bows at intervals. 

 It is a fight encumbered with forms, with a heavy, 

 punctilious ceremony, reminding one of those ornate 

 sweeps and bowing rapier-flourishes which are entered 



