Birds by Land and Sea 



were going through their strange antics on a small 

 grass bank on the hillside. The' female would 

 advance a few inches with head erect, upon which 

 the cock, with head equally erect and facing the 

 same way, would follow, stopping close to, and almost 

 abreast of, the female, as if in position to whisper 

 in her ear. ' Then the female would advance a few 

 inches further, and the cock follow again in the same 

 manner. In this way they paraded up and down 

 the bank, along and across it, the cock emitting 

 throughout a subdued, twittering song, to which 

 the hen appeared to listen with becoming circum- 

 spection. . At times the male bird would hop 

 quickly in advance of her, swing round, and face 

 her from a distance of a foot or so, continuing to 

 utter his excited serenade the while. Then, crouch- 

 ing, he would suddenly fly at her, but she, with 

 feminine foresight, flew to the right as he came by 

 the left, the result of the double movement being 

 that they had merely changed places without touch- 

 ing one another. At times they would flutter up 

 together a short way from the ground, only to 

 drop again and resume the endless strutting and 

 twittering, the sudden volte-faces and cross-flights, 

 until in the end the lady gathered herself up, and 

 made off for the higher slope, the male in hot 

 pursuit ; and when we last saw them, he was plying 

 her with a torrent of excited twitterings, meant to 

 assure her, no doubt, of his eternal devotion until 

 the autumnal equinox, by which time ring-ousels 



1 1.6 



