COURTSHIP AMONG BIRDS 119 



answer to the spur of the Jungle-fowl or Pheasant : but 

 the flattened radius of the wing of the Metopidius jacana 

 has no parallel. 



With birds, as with men, there must always remain 

 the ability to appeal to force when some important end 

 cannot otherwise be gained. The species which adopts 

 the crazy tactics of the Quaker is doomed to extinction, 

 sooner or later. The foregoing instances display force, 

 as we may say, aggressively. But even the peacefully 

 disposed birds can fight when aroused. 



Reference has already been made to dancing in this 

 chapter ; but so far no very striking instances thereof 

 as a form of sexual display have been cited. The 

 subject has been deferred because this peculiar type of 

 activity is not always directly associated with the Juror 

 amantium. 



With some species, which, it should be remarked, also 

 lack distinctive colouring, the erotic state is manifested 

 apparently not so much by the display of expanded wings 

 and tail as by frenzied dances. The Jacanas, aberrant 

 members of the Plover tribe resident in South America, 

 are expert performers, displaying moreover a curious 

 spontaneity during such outbursts. A flock will be 

 apparently sedulously feeding when suddenly and with 

 quick, excited gestures all will cluster together in a 

 group and go through a singular and pretty performance, 

 holding their wings outstretched and agitated, some with 

 a fluttering and others with more leisurely movement, 

 like that of a butterfly sunning itself. The performance 

 over, all scatter and feed again. . The Honourable Walter 

 Rothschild, in his " Avi-fauna of Laysan " tells us of 

 the stately Albatross, which breeds, or rather bred there — 

 for the Japanese display a singular callousness in regard 



