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BIRD-LIFE. 
•which, in spite of every essay, no mortal being has ever 
been able to imitate, wholly or even partially, and probably 
never will. This sound lasts about from three and a half 
to four seconds : it somewhat resembles the whetting of 
a scythe, and may he, in a way, expressed by the word 
‘hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide, hide-er-i.’ 
During this ‘ playing ’ the bird is usually seen perched on 
some prominent or withered branch, with drooping and 
trembling wings, ruffled feathers, raised and out-spread 
tail; in short, it much resembles an angry Turkey-cock: 
the neck is outstretched, the head and eyes turned 
upwards and in continuous movement. At the same 
time the bird generally walks up and down the branch, 
often evacuates, and treads a number of small branches 
to pieces; in fact, the creature seems to be in a mesmeric 
state, which renders it totally unconscious of all that is 
going on in the outer world; so much so, indeed, that if 
shot at and clean missed, while in this state, it continues 
‘playing,’ and remains quite undisturbed by either the 
flash or report.” 
This “play” lasts till soon after sunrise, when the 
bird quits his perch, and pays his addresses to his wives, 
who have, doubtless, been listening with great gratifica¬ 
tion to his serenade, acknowledging the same by their 
soft call of “bac, bac.” With these he passes the 
morning amid caresses, like a sultan in his harem. 
Other Gallinaceous birds “play” as well as the Cock 
of the wood. The domestic Fowl need not take so much 
trouble to win the affections of his seraglio. A civilized 
life has, in some way, done away with the necessity 
of such a complicated mode of courtship as the above. 
It suffices for him to crow, and thus assert himself lord 
of all he surveys, The bullying, cross-grained conduct 
