244 THE 4ZOOLOGIST. 
peat-hag, and, getting my eye on the other bird on the ground, 
T watched with my binoculars. At last, as the parent crossed a 
bare patch of ground close to my former place of concealment, I 
saw two and then another young bird following her. I walked 
back rapidly. The birds behaved as before, and I again took up 
my position—the young had concealed themselves. The other 
parent bird had risen quite one hundred and fifty yards off from 
where the young were. 
And now comes the most interesting part of the observations 
I made on this occasion. On the first occasion when I hid in 
this hollow I had not thought it necessary to conceal myself from 
above. This time I cut and pulled over me the long grass, and 
lay full length. 
The male bird came some little time after, and began to circle 
and float round with the graceful poise of the head already 
described, but, as I judged, with less carefulness in surveying the 
eround (I think the young had been removed further away ?). 
And now, as he floated, circling round, suddenly whilst high in 
air he turned a complete somersault sideways, and descended 
head first, with a strange corkscrew—or rather, let me describe it, 
zigzag—phase of motion (it could scarcely be called flight). 
When close to the earth he recovered his normal position, 
and either skimmed away horizontally or momentarily alighted. 
This I had observed before at a distance, but too far off for me 
to satisfactorily note its peculiarities. Now I had the bird close 
to my place of observation, and I believe I was in a greater 
measure concealed from above. On the second repetition of this 
curious antic, the bird not being more than thirty yards from the 
hollow where I was lying, I clearly and distinctly saw it delibe- 
rately fold the left wing to its side as it turned in the air just before 
the descent was performed, and the wing was retained in that 
strange position during the whole time occupied in the descent. 
But on approaching the surface of the ground the folded wing 
was unfolded, and a twisting horizontal flight ensued for a 
short distance. Then, either the bird flew away at once, to 
return and again mount and float, or—as I observed on one or 
two occasions—momentarily touched the ground with its feet 
before doing so, or even alighted. 
I lay a long time in the hollow studying this curious 
