264 THE PLAY OF ANIMALS. 



three or four sharp turns with inimitable skill, then 

 checks his pace and marches proudly back again, to 

 repeat the sport. 



According to Liebe's description of the lapwing, 

 he does not go directly to the female after his exhibi- 

 tion of flying, but makes eyes at her in the funniest way, 

 skipping now to the right, now to the left, and making 

 deep bows with his head held on one side. "At this 

 she will rise and stir about a little and begin a soft 

 twittering which seems to delight her mate, who gives 

 expression to his warmth of feeling by running a few 

 steps nearer and standing while he throws a grass blade 

 or bit of stone behind him, which seems to be the sig- 

 nal for beginning the game anew." Brehm says that 

 the sportive heathcock "holds his tail upright and 

 fan-shaped, his head and neck, on which the feathers 

 are erected, outstretched, and drags his wings. He leaps 

 from side to side, sometimes circles, and finally plunges 

 his bill deep in the ground. The condor spreads his 

 wings, bends his neck stiffly, and turns slowly with little 

 tripping steps and trembling wings. " In North Amer- 

 ica," says Darwin, "large numbers of a grouse, the 

 Tetrao pkasianellus, meet every morning during the 

 breeding season on a selected level spot, and here they 

 run round and round in a circle of about twenty feet 

 in diameter, so that the ground is worn quite bare, like 

 a fairy ring. In these partridge dances, as they are 

 called by the hunters, the birds assume the strangest 

 attitudes and run round, some to the left and some to 

 the right." * 



I believe I am right in assuming that such dancing 

 motions are not only the means of displaying the colours 



* Descent of Man, ii, p. 74. 



