BIRD COUETSHIP 



There is something about the matchmaking 

 of birds that is not easily penetrated. The 

 jealousies and rivalries of the males and of the 

 females is easily understood — it is quite 

 human; but those sudden rushes of several 

 males, some of them already mated, after one 

 female, with squeals and screams and a great 

 clatter of wings — what does it mean 1 There 

 is nothing human about that, unless it be illus- 

 trative of a trait that has at times cropped out 

 in the earlier races and which is still seen 

 among the Esquimaux, where the male carries 

 off the female by force. But in these sudden 

 sallies among the birds the female, so far as I 

 have observed, is never carried off. One may 

 see half a dozen English sparrows engaged in 

 what at first glance appears to be a general 

 melee in the gutter or on the sidewalk, but if 

 you look more closely you will see a single 

 female in the midst of the mass, beating off the 

 males who, with plumage puffed out and 

 screaming and chattering, are all making a set 

 at her. She strikes right and left, and seems 

 to be equally displeased with them all. But 

 her anger may be all put on, and she may be 

 giving the wink all the time to her favorite. 



