Birds by Land and Sea 



first toward this one, and then toward that, ap- 

 parently contemplating polygamy, but was diverted 

 by suddenly finding something to eat midway 

 between the two. Mrs. Starling, or rather, Miss, 

 does not mind being hunted. She has a heavy 

 coquetry which becomes the daughter of a hard- 

 headed race. When she takes wing, she knows 

 perfectly well that half a dozen enterprising cocks 

 will spring up after her ; and so she announces her 

 flight by a short chattering cry, which, heard at a 

 distance, sounds like a few bleats of a snipe carried 

 across the wind. Away she goes, with the cocks 

 in full chase. They have not gone far when a sudden 

 prod from behind shoots one of them out of the 

 running, and the prodder, " naturally selected," takes 

 his place. From similar causes, the following de- 

 creases, until the surviving " fittest " closes up in hot 

 pursuit, the dusky fugitive uttering her chattering 

 cry every time he manages to touch her tail. She 

 leads him round, and dashes down low among the 

 wheezing, jostling mob from which she started on 

 her flight, and as the cock chases her in and out 

 among the crowd with endless turns and doublings, 

 one would imagine that he must inevitably lose 

 touch with her. But, no ; out from the farther 

 side they emerge, and mount again into the open. 

 The silent, furious pursuit of the cock, and the 

 startled cries of the hen, convey the impression of 

 an unrelenting hunt ; and yet, in the end, the hen 

 lays out her wings, and floats quietly on, the cock 



132 



