22 8 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



head in the orthodox manner, just beside him, and 

 it was not till the feeding one responded, by doing 

 the same, that hostilities went further. Equally 

 apparent was it that the challenged bird felt himself 

 quite safe, as long as he did not take the matter up, 

 by going through the established form. Again, this 

 throwing of the head from side to side, which seems 

 to represent the attempt of either combatant to 

 avoid the beak of his adversary, has, likewise, become 

 more or less stereotyped, for not only may the one 

 bird act in this way, whilst the other is feeding, as 

 we have just seen, but even when both do, as we 

 shall see directly, they may be at such a distance 

 from one another as to make the action a quite 

 useless one. On the other hand, when the two 

 stand beak to beak, and commence a spirited fight, 

 in this manner, the object and rationale of the 

 movement seems as obvious as it can be. We see, 

 here, the swords actually crossed, whilst, in the other 

 cases, the birds fence at a distance, or the one 

 without the other, and this is so obviously formal, 

 that, for myself, I doubt the motive of the same 

 movement, even where it seems most apparent. 

 What I last saw will, still further, illustrate these 

 points. A woodpecker that had been quietly feed- 

 ing by itself, at some distance from any other one, 

 began, all at once, to move its head about in this 

 way, in a very excited manner, and to utter a little, 

 sharp, twittering cry, being one note several times 

 repeated. I then saw that another woodpecker was 

 advancing towards him, with precisely similar ges- 

 tures, though, as yet, he was a good way off. As he 

 came nearer, the threatened bird first retreated, and 



