260 HOMING WITH THE BIRDS 



had the same pair of orioles. Certain it is that 

 he has had orioles in the same tree, on the same 

 side of the tree, at the same height, and twice on 

 twigs of the same branch. The nests appear 

 exactly the same and the birds pursue the same 

 course in the affairs of life. That they are the 

 same birds he firmly believes, and so do I, but we 

 have no way to prove it. 



In the case of last year's birds, there are enough 

 pairs to be mated each year to keep us busy watch- 

 ing and to furnish notes on bird courtship, even if 

 their parents remain paired and make love in- 

 differently a second season, as some suggest. In 

 my experience, this is never the case in a first pair- 

 ing for a season. Each spring brings its frenzy 

 of pursuit and song in a first nesting. I do think 

 matters take on a more casual aspect in the second 

 and third matings of the same pair. But very 

 little information that can be vouched for is to be 

 had, because with the birds, courting is a thing of 

 flight on the part of the female and of pursuit on 

 the part of the male, and we can not fly — at least, 

 not where birds are courting — so we get only hints 

 and glimpses. 



Of a very few cases I can write v/ith assurance. 

 Take the birds which every year live and nest 

 around my home. With some of them their affairs 

 are of broad daylight and for everyone to see and 

 interpret as sanely as possible. 



English sparrows are polygamous. One male 



