436 THE THRUSH FAMILY 



tionist sitting with his legs round his neck, gazing in rapt adoration 

 upon the eyes of his beloved, or seeking to storm her heart by 

 performing with passionate agility the other feats proper to his art, 

 you will gain an approximately correct idea of what a robin looks 

 like when making love. My recollection of the stationary birds 

 is that they sang, and showed a disposition to be unpleasant to each 

 other, but unfortunately I omitted to note down at the time 

 this particular detail of the scene, thus failing to practise in its 

 entirety, as every ornithologist should, the precept of the immortal 

 Cuttle "When found, make a note of! " 



Some years later, and nearly on the same date (March 12th), I saw 

 a somewhat different display. There were two robins in a tree one 

 perched above the other. The upper bird, with its tail but slightly 

 erect, kept swaying the head and neck in a strange, almost convulsive, 

 and by no means attractive manner from side to side. The other, 

 presumably the Romeo of the scene, had his head and tail in the 

 tense erect attitude already described ; he gazed upward towards his 

 Juliet and warbled softly. The proceedings were terminated by an 

 adjournment for refreshments. 



It will be observed that here one bird adopted what may be 

 called the gymnastic and the other the swaying posture, but it is not 

 easy to be certain which was the cock and which the hen, as similarity 

 of plumage makes the sexes difficult to distinguish. On other occa- 

 sions both postures have been seen to be adopted by one and the same 

 bird. This occurred in an instance described by Mr. Ogilvie Grant, who 

 observed that the cock, as he became more excited, " gradually raised 

 his body to its full height in a perfectly erect position, with his bill 

 pointing straight into the air, and his tail raised to an extraordinary 

 extent. Then with throat puffed out, he uttered a continuous gur- 

 gling twitter, swaying his body meanwhile from side to side." The hen 

 "half-crouching, with drooping wings and slightly raised tail, puffed 

 out the feathers of her sides and flanks." This performance was gone 

 through twice, and lasted about a minute. 



