WHEATEARS, DABCHICKS 83 



frequency with which three of the same species will 

 be seen in each other's company, usually chasing one 

 another about, and, as with the spur-winged lapwing, 

 these three are almost always made up of a pair 

 (a male and female) and another bird, a male, as 

 I believe. It may be said that here there can be 

 no analogy, for that it is either merely a case of 

 two males courting one female, or that the odd male 

 is both a rival and intruder, endeavouring to come 

 between the married happiness of two who have made 

 their choice. This latter explanation is the one that 

 has generally seemed to me to meet the case, but 

 what I have frequently noticed with surprise is that 

 the state of anger, or, indeed, fury, which one might 

 imagine would obtain under such circumstances be- 

 tween the two male birds, is either wholly absent, 

 or very much subdued. Now it is in the case of our 

 own peewit, more than with any other species, that 

 I have noticed this quite amicable association of three 

 birds, two of which would often seem to be a paired 

 couple, and as my notes, made whilst I had the birds 

 under observation, both illustrate the point and con- 

 tain the explanation of it which I have to offer, I will 

 here quote from them : 



"■February z^th. — Three peewits in company with 

 each other. Two are flying close together, as though 

 they were a paired couple, whilst one follows them at 

 a short interval. 



" February 2'jth. — Three peewits flying together in 

 the same way as before — that is to say two, which 

 may be paired birds, are close together, whilst there 

 is commonly a short space between them and the 

 third one. This arrangement may be temporarily 



