80 BIRD COURTSHIP 



then fly away, uttering a lonesome, homesick 

 note. Only by a wooing of many days is she 

 to be fully won. 



The past April I was witness one Sunday 

 morning to the jealousies that may rage in 

 these little brown breasts. A pair of bluebirds 

 had apparently mated and decided to occupy a 

 woodpecker's lodge in the limb of an old apple- 

 tree near my study. But that morning another 

 male appeared on the scene and was bent on 

 cutting the first male out, and carrying off his 

 bride. I happened to be near by when the 

 two birds came into collision. They fell to 

 the grass and kept their grip upon each other 

 for half a minute. Then they separated and 

 the first up flew to the hole and called fondly 

 to the female. This was too much for the 

 other male and they clinched again and fell to 

 the ground as before. There they lay upon 

 the grass, blue and brown intermingled. But 

 not a feather was tweaked out or even dis- 

 turbed, that I could see. They simply held 

 each other down. Then they separated again, 

 and again rushed upon each other. The battle 

 raged for about fifteen minutes, when one of 

 the males, which one, of course, I could not 

 tell, withdrew and flew to a box under the 

 eaves of the study and exerted all the eloquence 

 he possessed to induce the female to come to 

 him there. How he warbled and called and 

 lifted his wings and flew to the entrance to the 

 box and called again! The female was evi- 

 dently strongly attracted; she would respond 



