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NOTES AND QUERIES. 



A VES. 



Nuptial Display of the Pied Wagtail and Yellowhammer. — With 

 respect to the nuptial display of the Pied Wagtail (ante, p. 196), I 

 have the following record, which adds one or two points to the de- 

 scription by Mr. G. T. Rope : — " The cock kept moving about a yard 

 off the hen, in front of her, bowing his head repeatedly; then ap- 

 proaching, he spread his tail, deflecting it, and displaying to the full 

 the striking contrast between the deep black and the white. With 

 his wings spread, his body pressed upon the ground, inclined to one 

 side, and all tense, he dragged himself slowly towards the hen." The 

 act of coition followed. Mr. E. Selous has summarised, in the ' British 

 Bird Book' — in which the above note also appears — observations 

 on the display of the Yellowhammer by Ussher and Warren and by 

 Boraston : — " As for the male Yellowhammer, he, too, will raise the 

 feathers of his crest or rather scalp, and, with wings drooped upon 

 the ground, parade about the female. . . . The white border feathers 

 of the tail . . . are by the sudden spreading out of the latter . . . 

 frequently flashed into view." The holding up of the wings, men- 

 tioned by Mr. Rope, is a new addition. — F. B. Kirkman (Letch- 

 worth, Herts). 



Nuptial Display of the Pied Wagtail. — Some years ago I had the 

 good luck to observe this habit in the Pied Wagtail, but I am unable 

 to lay my hand on my notes. However, my observations agreed with 

 those of Mr. G. T. Rope (ante, p. 196), but in addition the cock bird 

 spread out his wings and his tail much after the depicted manner of 

 the Argus Pheasant, and the striking black and white plumage of the 

 wings, tail, and back appeared to merge in one regular pattern with 

 the head in the centre. It was certainly a wonderful and beautiful 

 sight. — John R. B. Masefield (Rosehill, Cheadle, Staffs.). 



The Sense of Beauty in Birds. — Mr. G. T. Rope's remarks on the 

 nuptial displays of the Yellowhammer and Pied Wagtail (ante, p. 196) 

 caused me to turn up a few notes of mine on the Yellow Wagtail. 

 The behaviour of this species provides a little puzzle for those who 

 hold the view that birds respond to the same aesthetic impulses as 



