190 BIRD LIFE GLIMPSES 



the distance separating the two is gradually dimi- 

 nished, the turns, as it lessens, become more and 

 more frequent, and, at length, a sort of sparring 

 scuffle takes place, in which beak as well as claw is 

 used. One of the birds has been run down, in fact, 

 but the odd thing is that, as soon as it escapes, it 

 turns round again, upon which the other does also, 

 and the scene that I have described recommences. 

 Now why should a bird that has just had the dis- 

 advantage in a struggle, and is being pursued by 

 the victor, turn so boldly round upon him, and why 

 this in a much higher degree should that victor, 

 with the prestige of his victory full upon him, turn, 

 the instant the bird he has vanquished does, and 

 run away from him like a hare ? In all this there 

 appears to me to be something unusual, suggest- 

 ing that what was, originally, an act of volition, 

 is now no longer so, but has become an auto- 

 matic reaction to an equally automatic stimulus, 

 The will, as it appears to me, except, of course, 

 in los primeros movimientos, has almost dropped out 

 of use, so that when the drama has once com- 

 menced, all the rest follows of itself. I have said 

 that the two birds turn simultaneously. Strictly 

 speaking, I suppose that one of them the pursued 

 one probably makes the initial movement towards 

 doing so : but so immediate is the action of the other 

 upon it, that it often looks as though both had swung 

 round at the same instant of time. This, surely, 

 at a distance of fifty or a hundred yards, is, in itself, 

 a very remarkable thing, though, as far as I can 

 make out, these curious chases have not attracted 

 much attention. If we wish to see their real origin, 



