April 14, 1892J 



NATURE 



555 



Perhaps the most interesting chapter in the whole 

 volume, the fullest in new matter, and the most important 

 in its bearing on a much-disputed theory, is that on 

 ■" Music and Dancing in Nature." The result of Mr. 

 Hudson's long-continued observations is that almost all 

 mammals and birds have the habit of indulging occa- 

 sionally in more or less regular performances, with or 

 without sound, or composed of sound only, some being 

 only discordant cries and choruses or uncouth irregular 

 motions, while the more aerial, graceful, and melodious 

 kinds exhibit more complex and more beautiful forms. It 

 is among birds that this habit is most fully developed and 

 presents itself in the most graceful or fantastic perform- 

 ances. Great numbers of birds of very different forms and 

 habits — hawks, vultures, ibises, spoonbills, and gulls — 

 circle about in the air, singly or in flocks, and apparently 

 for the mere delight in aerial motion. Sometimes they 

 rise to vast altitudes, and float about in the air in one 

 spot for an hour or longer at a time, hundreds of birds 

 gliding in and out among each other with perfect pre- 

 cision as in a set dance. Ibises and ducks have special 

 performances of their own, but perhaps the most curious 

 are those of some species of rails. The ypecaha rails 

 have meeting-places on smooth level ground near the 

 water and well surrounded by dense beds of rushes. 

 One bird sounds a note of invitation ; others from all 

 sides come hurriedly to the place, where they begin a 

 strange screaming concert, rushing about all the time. 

 The cries they utter somewhat resemble human screams 

 of terror, frenzy, or despair, mingled with half-smothered 

 cries of pain and moans of anguish. This exhibition 

 lasts a few minutes, after which the assembly peacefully 

 breaks up. 



The singular wattled, wing-spurred, and long-toed 

 jacanas have a different kind of meeting. They usually 

 go singly or in pairs ; but occasionally, in response to a 

 call by one of them, all who are within hearing leave off 

 feeding and fly to one spot, where they walk about with 

 their beautiful wings erect or half open, or waved up and 

 down with a slow and measured motion. With these 

 two species both sexes join in the display ; but that of 

 the spur-winged lapwing is altogether peculiar, inasmuch 

 as it takes place with three individuals only. These 

 birds live in pairs, and at intervals during the day or on 

 moonlight nights, one bird will leave his mate and fly to 

 another pair a short distance off. These will receive the 

 visitor with signs of pleasure. First going to meet him, 

 they place themselves behind him, and all three march 

 rapidly, uttering special notes. Then they stop ; the 

 leader stands erect with elevated wings uttering loud 

 notes, while the other two, with puffed-out plumage, 

 standing side by side, stoop forward till the tips of their 

 beaks touch the ground, and with a low murmuring 

 sound remain for some moments in this strange posture. 

 Then the visitor goes back to his own ground and mate, 

 a4id later on they receive a visitor, whom they treat in the 

 same ceremonious fashion. They are said to be so fond 

 of this form of visiting that they indulge in it all the year 

 round, and the illustration representing it is a most 

 curious and fantastic picture of bird life. 



A considerable number of Passerine birds also have 

 curious displays, which are here described, as well as 

 songs of a most remarkable character. Some sing alone, 

 NO. I 172, VOL. 45] 



others in concert ; in most instances the voice is at its 

 best during the mating period, but in one of the smaller 

 finches the song is at that time feeble, while at a later 

 period it becomes far more powerful and » melodious- 

 There is one species, the white-banded mocking-bird, 

 which is considered to exceed all other songsters in the 

 copiousness, variety, and brilliant character of its music. 

 By the half-hour it will first imitate with great accuracy 

 the songs of many other species — a strange and beautiful 

 performance ; but this is merely the prelude to its own 

 song, which is " uttered with a power, abandon, and 

 joyousness resembling, but greatly exceeding, that of the 

 skylark singing 'at Heaven's gate'; the note issuing in a 

 continuous torrent ; the voice so brilliant and infinitely 

 varied that, if rivalry and emulation have as large a 

 place in feathered breasts as some imagine, all that hear 

 this surpassing melody might well languish ever after in 

 silent despair." 



Mr. Hudson's conclusion as to the meaning of the 

 various actions and vocal performances that he describes, 

 and of which only a few cases have been here referred to, 

 is as follows : — 



" I wish now to put this question : What relation that 

 we can see or imagine to the passion of love and the 

 business of courtship have these dancing and vocal per- 

 formances in nine cases out of ten ? In such cases, for 

 instance, as that of ihe scissors-tail tyrant-bird, and its 

 pyrotechnic evening displays, when a number of couples 

 leave their nests, containing eggs and young, to join in a 

 wild aerial dance ; the mad exhibitions of ypecahas 

 and ibises, and the jacanas' beautiful display of grouped 

 wings ; the triplet dances of the spur-winged lapwing, to 

 perform which two birds already mated are compelled to 

 call in a third bird to complete the set ; the harmonious 

 duets of the oven-birds, and the duets and choruses of 

 nearly all the wood-hewers, and the wing-slapping aerial 

 displays of the whistling widgeons ; will it be seriously 

 contended that the female of this species makes choice 

 of the male able to administer the most vigorous and 

 artistic slaps ? . . . There are many species in which the 

 male, singly or with others, practises antics or sings 

 during the love-season before the female ; and when all 

 such cases, or rather those which are most striking and 

 bizarre, are brought together, and when it is gratuitously 

 asserted that the females do choose the males that show 

 off in the best manner or that sing best, a case for sexual 

 selection seems to be made out. How unfair the argu- 

 ment is, based on these carefully selected cases gathered 

 from all regions of the globe, and often not properly re- 

 ported, is seen when we turn from the book to Nature, 

 and closely consider the habits and actions of all the 

 species inhabiting any one district. We see then that 

 such cases as those described and made so much of in 

 the ' Descent of Man,' and cases like those mentioned in 

 this chapter, are not essentially different in character, 

 but are manifestations of one instinct, which appears to 

 be almost universal among the higher animals. The 

 explanation I have to offer lies very much on the surface. 

 . . . We see that the inferior animals, when the con- 

 ditions of life are favourable, are subject to periodical 

 fits of gladness, affecting them powerfully, and standing 

 out in vivid contrast to their ordinary temper. And we 

 know what this feeling is — this periodic intense elation 

 which even civilized man occasionally experiences when 

 in perfect health, more especially when young. There 

 are moments when he is mad with joy, when he cannot 

 keep still, when his impulse is to sing and shout aloud 

 and laugh at nothing, to run and leap and exert himself 

 in some extravagant way." 



