12 BIRD WATCHING 



of the bracken, which to some extent rings round 

 the birds' place of assembly. 



"A drizzling rain soon began, and this increased 

 gradually, but not beyond a smart drizzle. The 

 birds, as though stimulated by the drops, now began 

 to come down from where they had been standing 

 on the edge of the amphitheatre, and to spread all 

 over it till there were numbers of them, and dancing 

 of a more pronounced, or, at least, of a more violent 

 kind than I had yet seen, commenced. Otherwise 

 it was quite the same, but the extra degree of ex- 

 citement made it much more interesting. It was, 

 in fact, remarkable and extraordinary. Running 

 forward with wings extended and slightly raised, 

 a bird would suddenly fling them high up, and then, 

 as it were, pitch about over the ground, waving and 

 tossing them, stopping short, turning, pitching forward 

 again, leaping into the air, descending and continuing, 

 till, with another leap, it would make a short eccentric 

 flight low over the ground, coming down in a sharp 

 curve and then, at once, meme jeu. I talk of their 

 'pitching' about, because their movements seemed 

 at times hardly under control, and, each violent run 

 or plunge ending, in fact, with a sudden pitch forward 

 of the body, the wings straggling about (often pointed 

 forward over the head) in an uncouth dislocated sort 

 of way, the effect was as if the birds were being blown 

 about over the ground in a violent wind. They 

 seemed, in fact, to be crazy, and their sudden and 

 abrupt return, after a few mad moments, to pro- 

 priety and decorum, had a curious, a bizarre effect. 

 Though having just seen them behave so, one seemed 

 almost to doubt that they had. One bird that had 



