COURTSHIP OF BIRDS 141 



it is said, water will wear the hardest rock, and it is 

 certain that time and importunity have their full effect upon 

 the male Phalarope, and soon all are comfortably married. 

 The captive male is introduced to new duties, and spends 

 half his time on the eggs, while the female keeps about the 

 pool close by." 



MODES OF COURTSHIP 



Let us select a few illustrations of different modes of 

 courtship among birds. Perhaps the first place must be 

 given to song, but this raises so many questions that it must 

 be dealt with separately. It must suffice here to refer to 

 its variety, and one of Brehm's sentences will serve. 

 " Dominated by love, the jay sings, whistles, and murmurs, 

 the magpie chatters, the croaking raven transforms his 

 rough sounds into gentle, soft notes, the usually silent grebe 

 lets its voice be heard, the diver sings its wild yet tuneful 

 ocean-song, the bittern dips its bill under water that the 

 only cry at its command may become a dull, far-sounding 

 booming." And what is one to say of the nightingale, the 

 mavis, the blackbird, the lark, the bullfinch, and so through 

 the long list of the Spring orchestra ? In some cases there 

 is a certain degree of instrumental music, for it has been 

 shown that the drumming or bleating of the snipe is due to 

 the bird's rapid passage through the air with the outer tail- 

 feathers held very tensely. 



Secondly, there is all the glamour of graceful movement. 

 Birds of prey ascend to giddy heights, let themselves go, 

 almost touch earth, and are up again circling, soaring, 

 hovering. The flight of the eagle-like bateleur of the 

 interior of Africa is marvellous at all times, but at the 

 pairing time it becomes " an incomparable mountebank 



