282 
The Naturalist in La Plata. 
man’s case would be. like that of tbe inferior 
animals. 
I was one day watcliiug a flock of plovers, quietly 
feeding on tlie ground, when, in a moment, all the 
birds were seized by a joyous madness, and eacli 
one, after making a vigorous peck at bis nearest 
neighbour, began running wildly about, each trying 
in passing to peck other birds, while seeking by 
means of quick doublings to escape being pecked in 
turn. This species always expresses its glad im- 
pulse in the same way ; but bow different in form 
is this simple game of touch-who-touch-can from 
the triplet dances of the spur-winged lapwiegs, 
with their drumming music, pompous gestures, and 
military precision of movement ! How different 
also from the aerial performance of another bird of 
the same family — the Brazilian stilt — in which one is 
pursued by the others, mounting upwards in a wild, 
eccentric flight until they are all but lost to view ; 
and back to earth again, and then skywards once 
more ; the pursued bird when overtaken giving 
place to another individual, and the pursuing pack 
making the air ring with their melodious barking 
cries ! How different again are all these from the 
aerial pastimes of the snipe, in which the bird, in 
its violent descent, is able to produce such wonder- 
ful, far-reaching sounds with its tail-feathers 1 The 
snipe, as a rule, is a solitary bird, and, like the 
oscillating finch mentioned early in this paper, is 
content to practise its pastimes without a witness. 
In the gregarious kinds all perform together : for 
this feeling, like fear, is eminently contagious, and the 
sight of one bird mad with joy will quickly make 
