MOCKING-BIRD DANCE. 39 



bird style, and I noticed that every time he 

 returned from an excursion he perched a little 

 nearer his audience of one, until, after some 

 time, he stood upon the same twig, a few inches 

 from her. They were facing and apparently 

 trying to stare each other out of countenance ; 

 and as I waited, breathless, to see what would 

 happen next, the damsel coquettishly flitted to 

 another branch. Then the whole scene was 

 repeated; the most singular and graceful evo- 

 lutions, the songs, and the gradual approach. 

 Sometimes, after alighting on a top twig, he 

 dropped down through the branches, singing, 

 in a way to suggest the " dropping song " so 

 graphically described by Maurice Thompson, 

 but never really falling, and never touching 

 the ground. Each performance ended in his 

 reaching the twig which she occupied and her 

 flight to another, until at last, by some appar- 

 ently mutual agreement, both flew, and I saw 

 no more. 



A remarkable "dance" which I also saw, 

 with the same bird as principal actor, seems to 

 me another phase of the wooing, though I must 

 say it resembled a war-dance as well ; but love 

 is so like war among the lower orders, even of 

 men, that it is hard to distinguish between 

 them. I shall not try to decide, only to relate, 

 and, I beg to say, without the smallest exag- 



