COURTSHIP AMONG BIRDS 121 



sometimes a whole flock will join in such dances. But, 

 it is to be noted, they are not necessarily signs of the 

 Juror amantium : they certainly always accompany 

 this, but frequently they are indulged in, apparently, 

 solely as an outlet for exuberance of feeling. 



Before the theme of dancing can be dismissed the 

 performance of a small species of perching bird, one of 

 the South American Manakins, must be described. 

 The natives call it the " Bailador," or dancer. In an 

 account of his travels in Nicaragua Mr. Nutting tells us : 

 " I once witnessed one of the most remarkable per- 

 formances it was ever my lot to see. Upon a bare twig 

 ... at about four feet from the ground, two male 

 ' bailadors ' were engaged in a song and dance act that 

 simply astonished me. The two birds were about a 

 foot and half apart and were alternately jumping about 

 two feet in the air and alighting exactly on the spot whence 

 they jumped. The time was as regular as clockwork, 

 one bird jumping up the instant the other alighted, each 

 bird accompanying himself to the tune of to-le-do — 

 to-le-do — to-le-do, sounding the syllable to as he crouched 

 to spring, le while in the air, and do as he alighted. This 

 performance was kept up without intermission for more 

 than a minute, when the birds suddenly discovered they 

 had an audience and m.ade off." Here again we have 

 no evidence of the Juror amantium; nor that any females 

 were spectators of the scene. 



. It is important to notice that Mr. Howard, in the course 

 of his study of the Warblers, witnessed a performance 

 having some likeness to this on the part of three young 

 Sedge Warblers but newly escaped from the nursery. 

 And this not in some solitary instance, but on several 

 occasions. Just after leaving the nest, he remarks, they 



