The Bird that Whips Poor Will 



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 amples, and more striking ones may be found 



in the tropics. Even some of the somber sea- 

 birds, like the shag, assume a gay top-knot as 

 an advertisement of their desire to marry ; and, 

 in short, it is a general rule that male birds add 

 something attractive to their dress on the ap- 

 proach of the nesting-time. 



Among nocturnal birds an accession of color 

 would evidently be ineffective, and such nuptial 

 ornaments as they indulge in must attract by 

 form rather than by color. Nowhere is this 

 more curiously shown than by tropical night- 

 jars. In one South American group the wings 

 of the males have three of the flight-feathers 

 enormously elongated, so that they trail or 

 flutter like streamers as the bird flies; and in 

 another the two outer tail-feathers are more 

 than twice the length of the bird's body, -and 

 bend inward at the tips antil their white points 

 nearly meet. It is a singular sight to watch 

 one of these " lyre-tails " hawking after insects, 

 the long plumes opening and shutting like a 

 pair of flexible calipers. 



Central Africa shows even more remarkable 

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