ii6 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



the little impatient flutter of the wings, and bold 

 assertive flirt of the tail, supported — in spite of a 

 constant threat of overbalancing — by a firm attitude, 

 that suggests a fiery temper. You get this, more 

 especially, through the tail. It is flirted at you ^ that 

 tail. You feel that, and, also, that the intention, if 

 questioned, v^ould be avouched, that were you to 

 say to the bird, sternly and firmly — in the manner 

 of Abraham accosting Samson — " Do you flirt your 

 tail at me, sir ? " the answer, instead of a pitiful, 

 shuffling evasion — a half-hearted quibble — would be 

 an uncompromising, '* I do flirt my tail at you, sir." 

 One cannot doubt this — at least I cannot. So sure, 

 in fact, have I always felt about it, that I have never 

 yet asked the question. Why should I — knowing 

 what the answer would be ? But though this seems 

 to be the stone-chat's mental attitude, when bob 

 and flirt and flutter are as the gesticulations accom- 

 panying hot utterance — the impatient " char, char, 

 charring " — yet, when this last is wanting — which is 

 when he doesn't see you — all seems changed, and 

 such motions, set in silence, assume a softened char- 

 acter. Now, instead of to the harsh chatter, it is to 

 the soft purity of the bird's colouring that they 

 seem to respond. 



Of all the birds that we have here, the peewits, 

 for a great part of the year, give most life to the 

 barren lands. In the winter, as I say, they disappear 

 entirely, going off^ to the fens, though, here and 

 there, their voice remains, mimicked, to the life, by 

 a starling. In February, however, they return, and 

 are soon sporting, and throwing their fantastic 

 somersaults, over their old, loved breeding-grounds. 



