. Bird watching . illoften break out, so to speak, amongst three or fourbirds running or chasing each other about. All atonce one will stop, stiffen into one of them—thatespecially where the head is lowered till the beaktouches, or nearly touches, the ground—and remainso for a formal period. But all such runnings andchasings are, at this time, but a part of the businessof pairing, and one divines at once that such attitudesare of a sexual character. The above are a few of thegestures or antics of the great plover or stone-curlewduring the spring. I have seen others, but eitherthey were less sa
. Bird watching . illoften break out, so to speak, amongst three or fourbirds running or chasing each other about. All atonce one will stop, stiffen into one of them—thatespecially where the head is lowered till the beaktouches, or nearly touches, the ground—and remainso for a formal period. But all such runnings andchasings are, at this time, but a part of the businessof pairing, and one divines at once that such attitudesare of a sexual character. The above are a few of thegestures or antics of the great plover or stone-curlewduring the spring. I have seen others, but eitherthey were less salient, or, owing to the great distance,I was not able to taste them properly, for whichreason, and on account of space, I will not furtherdwell upon them. What I would again draw atten-tion to, as being, perhaps, of interest, is that here wehave a bird with distinct nuptial (sexual) and social(non-sexual) forms of display or antics, and that theformer as well as the latter are equally indulged in byboth Watching Ringed PloversRedshanksPeewits, etc, The pretty little ring-plover {^gialitis hiaticola)belongs properly to the sea-shore, but he haunts andbreeds inland also, and is especially the companion ofthe stone-curlew over the stony, sandy wastes thatthey both love so well. These little birds have botha nuptial flight and a courting action on the the former a pair will keep crossing and recross-ing as they scud about, or they will sweep towardsand then away from each other in the softest andprettiest manner imaginable, or each will sweep firstup to a height and then swiftly down again and skimquite low along the ground, thus delighting the eyewith the contrast. Their flight is all in gracefulsweeps, for even when they beat the air with theirslender, pointed pinions, it is rather as though theykissed than beat it, and they seem all the while to besweeping on without effort, so soft is their motion. 22 BIRD WATCHING Another salient feature is the varied dir
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