68 BIRD WATCHING 



the least degree interested in birds and their ways 

 might have lain and watched these bizarreries a 

 hundred times repeated, without wishing to get up 

 and go. My observations were made on the last 

 day but one of March, and are as follows : — 



" 2.30 (about). — Two male wheatears have for some 

 time been hopping about in each other's company, 

 and one now makes a hostile demonstration against 

 the other. This he does by advancing and lowering 

 the head, with the beak pointed straight forward, 

 ruffling out the feathers, fanning the tail, and making 

 a sudden, swift run towards him. He stops, however, 

 before the point of actual contact, and the two birds 

 hop about, each affecting to think very little about 

 the other." The wheatear, I should say, always hops, 

 and, by so doing, always give me something of a sur- 

 prise, for there is that in his appearance which does 

 not suggest hopping, but rather that he would run 

 over the ground like a wagtail. His hops, however, 

 are so quick, and take him forward so smoothly, that 

 the effect on the eye is often much more like run- 

 ning than hopping. I therefore often speak of him as 

 running, though, I believe, he never does so in the 

 strict sense of the word. To continue. " After some 

 time, during which there was nothing specially note- 

 worthy in their behaviour, the two birds flew, one after 

 the other, to some little distance off on a higher and 

 more sandy part of the warren, and here a female 

 wheatear appeared, hopping near them. One of the 

 males at once ran to her, but had instantly to fly 

 before the fierce wrath of the other. The hen then 

 flew to a stunted willow in the neighbourhood, where 

 she sat perched amongst the topmost twigs, the males 



