BIRDS OF KANSAS 25 



to politeness, opens his powerful bill, throws out his 

 wings, and rushes with fury on his foe. Each attack is 

 carefully guarded against, blows are exchanged for blows ; 

 one would think that a single well-aimed thrust might 

 suffice to inflict death, but the strokes are parried with 

 as much art as an expert swordsman would employ; 

 and although I have watched these birds for half an hour 

 at a time as they fought on the ground, I never yet saw 

 one killed on such occasion ; but I have often seen one 

 felled and trampled upon, even after incubation had com- 

 menced. These combats over, the males and females 

 leave the place in pairs." 



Bradford Torrey, in his "Birds in the Bush," gives an 

 account of Robin's way of winning his mate: 



"The American Robin, for instance, is far from being 

 a bird of exceptional refinement. His nest is rude, not to 

 say slovenly, and his general deportment is unmistakably 

 common. But watch him when he goes a-wooing, and 

 you will begin to feel quite a new respect for him. How 

 gently he approaches his beloved ! How carefully he 

 avoids ever coming disrespectfully near! No sparrow-like 

 screaming, no dancing about, no melodramatic gesticu- 

 lations. If she moves from one side of -the tree to the 

 other, or to the tree adjoining, he follows in silence. Yet 

 every movement is a petition, an assurance that his heart 

 is hers and ever must be. The action is extremel}^ sim- 

 ple ; there is nothing of which to make an eloquent de- 

 scription ; but I should pity the man who would witness 

 it with indifference. Not that the robin's suit is always 

 carried on in the same way ; he is much too versatile for 

 that. On one occasion, at least, I saw him holding him- 

 self absolutely motionless, in a horizontal posture, star- 

 ing at his sweetheart as if he would charm her with his 

 gaze, and emitting all the while a sulxlued hissing sound. 



