NOTES BY THE WAY 137 



ently no courting is done in the Soutli, and no 

 matches are prearranged. The males leave irregu- 

 larly without any hint, I suspect, to the females as 

 to when and where they will meet them. In the 

 case of the passenger pigeon, however, the two 

 sexes travel together, as they do among the migrat- 

 ing water-fowls. 



With the song-birds, love-making begins as soon 

 as the hens are here. So far as I have observed, 

 the robin and the bluebird win their mates by gen- 

 tle and fond approaches; but certain of the spar- 

 rows, notably the little social sparrow or " chippie, " 

 appear to carry the case by storm. The same pro- 

 ceeding may be observed among the English spar- 

 rows, now fairly established on our soil. Two or 

 three males beset a female and a regular scuffle 

 ensues. The poor bird is pulled and jostled and 

 cajoled amid what appears to be the greatest mirth 

 and hilarity of her audacious suitors. Her plumage 

 is plucked and ruffled; the rivals roll over each 

 other and over her; she extricates herself as best 

 she can, and seems to say or scream "no," "no," 

 to every one of them with great emphasis. What 

 finally determines her choice would be hard to say. 

 Our own sparrows are far less noisy and obstreper- 

 ous, but the same little comedy in a milder form is 

 often enacted among them. When two males have 

 a tilt they rise several feet in the air, beak to beak, 

 and seek to deal each other blows as they mount. 

 I have seen two male chewinks facing each other 

 and wrathfuUy impelled upward in the same man- 



