WOOING BIRDS' ODD WAYS. 



F all the interesting points on 

 which Mr. Dixon . touches 

 in his " Curiosities of Bird 

 Life," perhaps none is more 

 remarkable than the strange 

 antics in which some birds indulge, 

 especially at the pairing season. With 

 what odd gestures will a smartly 

 dressed Cock -sparrow, for instance, 

 endeavor to cut a good figure in the 

 eyes of his demure and sober-tinted 

 lady-love ! 



To a similar performance, though 

 with more of dignity and action about 

 it, the Blackcock treats his wives, for, 

 unlike the better conducted though 

 often much calumniated sparrow, he 

 is not satisfied with a single mate. One 

 of the most characteristic of spring 

 sounds on Exmoor, as evening dark- 

 ens, or, still more, in the early hours 

 of the morning, is the challenge of 

 the Blackcock. In the month of April 

 he who is abroad early enough may 

 watch, upon the russet slopes of 

 Dunkery, a little party of Blackcock 

 at one of their recognized and probably 

 ancestral meeting-places, by one of the 

 little mooreland streams, or on the wet 

 edge of some swampy hollow. Each 

 bird crouches on a hillock, in the 

 oddest of attitudes its head down, its 

 wings a-droop, its beautiful tail raised 

 and utters at intervals strange, 

 almost weird notes, sometimes sug- 

 gestive of thepurrofaTurtle-dove,and 

 sometimes more like the cry of chamois. 

 Presently an old cock, grand in his 

 new black coat, will get up and march 

 backward and forward with his neck 

 stretched out and his wings trailing on 

 the ground. Now he leaps into the 

 air, sometimes turning right round 

 before he alights, and now again he 

 crouches close upon his hillock. It is 

 said that in places where black game 

 are few a single cock will go through 

 all this by himself, or at least with 

 only his wives for witnesses. But if 

 there are more cocks than one, the 



proceedings generally end with a 

 fight. Where the birds are numerous 

 the young cocks, who are not allowed 

 to enter the arena with their elders, hold 

 unauthorized celebrations of their own. 

 There are many birds which thus, 

 like higher mortals, have their fits of 

 madness in the days of courtship. But 

 there are some, such as the spur-winged 

 Lapwing of La Plata, which are, like 

 the lady in the song, so fond of danc- 

 ing, especially of what the natives call 

 their serious dance, meaning a square 

 one, that they indulge in such per- 

 formances all the year, not in the day- 

 time only, but even on moonlight 

 nights. " If," says Mr. Hudson, who 

 tells the story, " a person watches any 

 two birds for some time for they 

 live in pairs he will see another Lap- 

 wing, one of a neighboring couple, 

 rise up and fly to them, leaving his 

 own mate to guard their chosen 

 ground, and instead of resenting this 

 visit as an unwarranted intrusion on 

 their domain, as they would certainly 

 resent the approach of almost any other 

 bird, they welcome it with notes and 

 signs of pleasure. Advancing to the 

 visitor, they place themselves behind 

 it ; then all three keeping step, begin 

 a rapid march, uttering resonant drum- 

 ming notes in time with their move- 

 ments ; the notes of the pair behind 

 them being emitted in a stream, like a 

 drum roll, while the leader utters loud 

 single notes at regular intervals. The 

 march ceases ; the leader elevates his 

 wings and stands motionless and erect, 

 still uttering loud notes, while the 

 other two with puffed-out plumage, 

 and standing exactly abreast, stoop 

 forward and downward until the top 

 of their beaks touch the ground, and, 

 sinking their rhythmical voices to a 

 murmur, remain for some time in this 

 posture. The performance is then over 

 and the visitor goes back to his own 

 ground and mate, to receive a visitor 

 himself later on." London Daily News. 



