PHASES, OF BIRD “LIFE, £63 
way these lords and ladies of woodpeckerdom make 
their royal obeisances. 
On a pleasant day in February two downy wood- 
peckers were ‘‘ scraping acquaintance.” ‘The male 
pursued his sweetheart about in the trees after the 
manner of his kind; but occasionally she would 
stand at bay and apparently challenge him to come 
nearer if he dared. Then both of them would lift 
their striped forms to an almost perpendicular posi- 
tion, their heads and beaks pointing straight toward 
the sky, and their bodies swaying grotesquely from 
side to side. This little comedy over, the finical 
miss bolted to another tree, with her cavalier in hot 
pursuit. 
Coy as the feathered ladies usually seem, many of 
them apparently are genuine flirts, and would feel 
greatly disappointed should their lovers give over the 
chase. They evidently want to be won, but not too 
easily. (Perhaps it might be said, ev passant, there 
are belles in other than the bird community who resort 
to similar zaive and winsome ruses.) In a shady 
nook of the woods I once saw a gallant towhee 
bunting employing all the arts at his command to 
win a damsel who seemed very demure. He was an 
extremely handsomely formed and finely clad bird, — 
a real édition de luxe. He flew down to the ground, 
picked up a brown leaf in his bill, and flourished it 
at her, as much as to say, “ It is time for nest-build- 
ing, dear.” Then he spread his wings and hand- 
some tail, and strutted almost like a peacock about 
on the leafy ground. But, no, she would not, and 
