no BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE 



tress. Frequently the bird exhibits its agitation, 

 not only by these cries and restless motions, but 

 by the drooping of the wings and tail — the action 

 observed in a bird when hurt or sick, or oppressed 

 with heat. These languishing signs are common 

 to a great many species after the young have been 

 hatched; the period when the parental solicitude 

 is most intense. In several species which I have 

 observed in South America, the languishing is 

 more marked. There are no sorrowful cries and 

 restless movements; the bird sits with hanging 

 wings and tail, gasping for breath with open bill 

 ' — in appearance a greatly suffering bird. In some 

 cases of this description, the bird, if it moves at 

 all, hops or flutters from a higher to a lower 

 branch, and, as if sick or wounded, seems about to 

 sink to the ground. In still others, the bird 

 actually does drop to the ground, then, feebly 

 flapping its wings, rises again w^ith great effort. 

 From this last form It Is but a step to the more 

 highly developed complex instinct of the bird that 

 sinks to the earth and flutters painfully away, 

 gasping, and seemingly incapable of flight. 



It would be a great mistake to suppose that the 

 bird when fluttering on the ground to lead an 



