BIRD COURTSHIP 53 



ing ; " all goes merry as a marriage bell," and the 

 matches seem actually to be made during these musi- 

 cal picnics. Before May is passed the birds are seen 

 in couples, and in June housekeeping usually be- 

 gins. This I call the ideal of love-making among 

 birds, and is in striking contrast to the squabbles 

 and jealousies of most of our songsters. 



I have known the goldfinches to keep up this 

 musical and love-making festival through three con- 

 secutive days of a cold northeast rainstorm. Be- 

 draggled, but ardent and happy, the birds were not 

 to be dispersed by wind or weather. 



All the woodpeckers, so far as I have observed, 

 drum up their mates; the male advertises his wants 

 by hammering upon a dry, resonant limb, when in 

 due time the female approaches and is duly courted 

 and won. The drumming of the ruffed grouse is 

 for the same purpose; the female hears, concludes 

 to take a walk that way, approaches timidly, is seen 

 and admired, and the match is made. That the 

 male accepts the first female that offers herself is 

 probable. Among all the birds the choice, the se- 

 lection, seems to belong to the female. The males 

 court promiscuously; the females choose discreetly. 

 The grouse, unlike the woodpecker, always carries 

 his drum with him, which is his own proud breast; 

 yet, if undisturbed, he selects some particular log 

 or rock in the woods from which to sound forth his 

 willingness to wed. What determines the choice of 



