A PRETTY RUFFLER 113 



I think our caution in accepting merely adap- 

 tive resemblances as tests of relationship may be * 

 pushed a little too far. A bat flies in the same 

 general way as a bird, but we do not find it prac- 

 tising little tricks and ways — with an intimate style 

 of flight, so to speak — resembling that of some 

 particular group of birds. All men walk ; yet a 

 man, by his walk, may proclaim the family to which 

 he belongs. A thousand points of similarity may 

 meet to make any such resemblance, but it is not 

 likely that they should unless they were founded on 

 a similarity of structure. Surely, too, the resem- 

 blances of notes and tones must rest upon corre- 

 sponding ones in the vocal organs, though these may 

 be too minute to be made out. To some extent, 

 indeed, these principles may be applied to get the 

 titlarks into either family. It is a question of 

 balance. That there is something in common be- 

 tween them and the wagtails I do not deny, and 

 the fact that when the two meet on the Icklingham 

 steppes neither seems to know the other, proves 

 nothing in regard to the nearness or otherwise of 

 the relationship. 



The male of the pied- or water-wagtail may often 

 be seen courting the female here, and a pretty sight 

 it is to see. He ruffles out his feathers so that his 

 breast looks like a little ball, and runs to her in a 

 warm, possession-taking way, with his wings drooped, 

 and his tail expanded and sweeping the ground. 

 She, quite unmoved, makes a little peck at him, as 

 though saying, " Be off^ with you ! " whereat he, 

 obeying, runs briskly off^, but turning when hardly 

 more than a foot away, comes down upon her, again. 



