32 NATURE'S STORY OF THE YEAR 



seems to be won as much by wing as by voice. 

 It is true that her lover constantly addresses 

 her with sweet tones ; but he also swoops grace- 

 fully at or near her ; and she, unable to sing 

 volubly, answers in the poetry of beautiful flight. 

 So the birds flirt in the air, swooping, pouncing, 

 sometimes approaching and seeming almost to 

 clasp each other with the feet ; and sometimes 

 even alighting on a hedge or in a tree, only to 

 spring off again and resume their pretty fooling. 

 And when, tired, she descends to the ground, 

 he hovers over her and seems to pour out his 

 gladness in song. 



The vocal signs of love in wren, thrush, and 

 lark, are signs of spring ; and about February 

 or March the same passion in the kestrel hawk 

 gives the same indication, though not quite in the 

 same manner. This bird has a voice clear and 

 far-reaching ; but he knows nothing of song, and 

 has not yet advanced beyond the mere repetition 

 of a not unpleasant call-note. How shall he woo ? 

 Shall he dance like a plover, strut like a pigeon, 

 or crow like a fowl on a midden ? A lord of 

 the air can do neither. He woos with his wing. 



