308 THE STRUCTURE AND LIFE OF BIRDS cuapP. 
When the birds have arrayed themselves for 
spring, there is heard that outburst of song that gives 
to an English wood or shrubbery a charm that is said 
to be often wanting in a tropical forest. In England, 
however, we have not the performances that are made 
up of music, partly vocal, partly instrumental, and 
dancing that is sometimes sedate and sometimes 
madly wild.’ The best account of these is given in 
Mr. Hudson’s Naturalist in La Plata, a book which 
should be read by all who wish to enter into the lives 
of animals. I give a few instances from other sources. 
In the WVineteenth Century, speaking of the dances of 
a kind of grouse Mr. John Worth writes: “One of 
the cocks lowers his head; spreads out his wings 
nearly horizontally, and his tail perpendicularly, dis- 
tends his air-sacs2 and erects his feathers, then rushes 
across the floor, taking the shortest of steps, but 
stamping his feet so hard and so rapidly, that the 
sound is like that of the kettle-drum; and at the 
same time he utters a kind of bubbling crow, which 
seems to rise from his air-sacs, beats the air with 
his wings, and vibrates his tail so that he produces 
a loud rustling noise, and thus becomes a really 
astonishing spectacle. Soon after he commences, 
all the cocks join in, rattling, stamping, drumming, 
crowing, and dancing furiously ; louder and louder 
the noise, faster and faster the dance becomes, until 
at last they madly whirl about, leaping over each 
other in their excitement.” The Australian Bower 
1 April, 1893. 
2 Ze. the coloured sacks on his neck. The “floor” is the 
spot where the birds meet for these performances. 
