120 CRUSOE'S ISLAND. 



not seem to take that as a slight, for they threw their 

 whole hearts into the acting. 



First one of them jumped up into the air some 

 two feet, followed by the other as he came down, 

 and thus they continued for several minutes, passing 

 and repassing each other in the air, and uttering the 

 queerest of notes, like " Cpa%o^ craw^ ci^aw-craw^'^ 

 which sounded like the cawing of distant crows. 

 They did not fly into the air, but seemed to leap, 

 each with head lowered, shoulders elevated, and tail 

 depressed, reminding me of those pictures on rice 

 paper of Chinese oflScials obsequiously approaching a 

 mandarin. 



This funny dance they kept up until both were 

 tired, and stopped to gain breath, when they hopped 

 up and went at it again. 



Just what their reward was to be from that de- 

 mure little wretch who sat observant alongside, the 

 apparent object of their attentions, I am unable to 

 say, for certainly no caresses were then obtained from 

 the female, and they did not offer any advances. 



A third male came upon the scene while the dance 

 was at its height, though he never offered to interfere, 

 but sat gravely by, and may have come in the charac- 

 ter of judge, or umpire. It seemed so absurd to me 

 that birds so much the superior of this female in point 

 of attractiveness should exert themselves so much to 

 win her favor ! If the same rule prevailed in human 

 life there is no maid, no matter how plain, who would 

 not some time find her intended spouse. 



That a fellow all decked out in blue and scarlet 



