TUNING UP 55 



two cocks on the same lawn. One is diligently 

 searching for worms, and from the gusto with 

 which he goes at the labour of hauling one out 

 whose head he has caught it may be inferred 

 that spring worm is good. There may even be 

 intoxicating qualities in spring worm capable of 

 accounting for much. However that may be, the 

 first blackbird is intent upon the extraction and 

 deglutition of the unhappy annelid, which doubt- 

 less had its own hopes in a world warming up. 

 The second blackbird is probably digesting the 

 contents of a full crop, and for the moment has 

 no need to look for worms. Suddenly he fans 

 his tail, droops his wings, and with head turned 

 towards his fellow begins a curious posturing 

 march or run in front of him. To all appearance 

 he is " trailing his coat." The other goes on with 

 his worm and takes no note. It is a fine big 

 worm, and has to be cut into sections. The cutting 

 is done in a truculent fashion, the poor victim 

 being simply dashed and shaken till he breaks. 

 When the last wriggling fragment is down and 

 the feaster has lifted his head and twisted his 

 neck to settle the feast in its right place, his eye 

 falls upon the posturer a yard away. Then his 

 tail opens out, too, in a downward fan, his wings 

 droop and trail, and he performs his own semi- 

 circular march. In this way the two keep per- 

 forming around one another, till suddenly, with a 

 clash of harsh notes, one of them breaks up the 

 performance and flies away. 



There has been no approach to a fight. The 

 two have merely performed at each other, and 



