CHAPTER V 
Courtship Flights 
‘“A pair of falcons wheeling on the wing, 
In clamorous agitation .. .” 
WoRDSWORTH. 
The wing-play of blackgame and grouse—The ‘‘ musical ride” of the snipe— 
The “‘roding ” of the woodcock—The musical flights of redshank and curlew— 
The ‘“‘ tumbling ” of the lapwing—The raven’s somersaults—The courting flight 
of the wood-pigeon—The manakin’s “‘castanets ’—-Wings as lures—The strange 
pose of the sun-bittern—The ‘‘ wooing ’’ of the chaffinch and the grasshopper- 
warbler— Darwin and wing-displays— The wonderful wings of the argus 
pheasant. 
NE of the most striking features of bird-life is surely 
O its restless activity. This is always apparent, but it 
attains to a state of almost feverish excitement as the spring 
advances, and the parental instincts re-awaken. As they 
gather strength, so they manifest themselves, in outbursts of 
song—often of exquisite beauty—strange antics, or wonderful 
evolutions in mid-air. 
It is with these last that we are chiefly concerned here. 
As might be supposed, they present a wide variety in the 
matter of their form and duration. Blackgame furnish an 
example of a very simple form of courtship flight, but it is 
associated with curious antics on the ground. And these, 
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