St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-07-30
The Dance Of Ypeeahas and
the Funny Frantics of
Other Birds.
Numerous Eccentric Gyra-
tons OF the Blaek-Faeed
Ibis of Patagonia.
Feathered Creatures Make
Their Own Music for Their
Peculiar Jigs.
Fantastic Freaks Of Hawks,
Vultures, Swifts, Swallows
and Storks.

Longman's Magazine.
The theory with regard to birds is
that in the love season. when the males
are excited and engage in courtshlp,
the females do not fall to the strongest
and most active, nor to those who are
first in the field; but that they are en-
dowed with faculty corresponding to
the aesthetic feeling or taste in man,
and deliberately select males for their
superiority in some aesthetic quality,
such as graceful or fantastic motions.
melody of voice, brilllancy of color or
perfection of ornaments. Doubtless
all birds were originally plain-colored.
without ornaments and without melody,
and it is assumed that so it would al
ways have been but for the action OF
this principle, which, like natural selec-
ton, has gone Oil accountability count
less small variations, tending to give a
greater luSter to the species in each
case, and resulting in all that we most
admire in the animal wOrld-the rupI-
cola's fiame-colored mantle, the pea
cocks crest and starry train, the joyous
melody of the lark, and the pretty or
fantastic dancing performances OF birds,
My experience is that mammals and
birds, with few ceptions-proDaDly
there are really no ceptions-poSSess
the habit OF indulging frequently in
more OF less regular or set performances,
with or without sound, or composed OF
sound exclusively, and that these per-
formances, which in many animals are
only discordant cries and choruSes and
uhcouth, irregular motions, in the more
aerial. graceful and melOdiouS kinds
take UNNECESSARILY higher, more COM
plex and more beautiful forms.
Among the mammalianS the instinct APP
pears almost universal, but their dis
PLAYS are, as rule, less admirable than
those seen in birds. There are some
kinds, 1t is true, like the squirrels and
monkeys, of arboreal habits, almost
birdlike in their restless energy and III
the swiftness and gertrude OF their mo-
lions, in which the slightest impulse
can be instantly expressed in graceful
or fantastic action; others, like the Chin
chillide tfamily, have greatly devel-
oped vocal organs, and resemble BIRDS
in loquaclty; but mammals generally,
compared with birds. ara slow and
heavy. and not SO readily moved to ex-
hibitiOnS of the kind l am diScuSSltg.
The terrestrial dances, often very
elaborate, of heavy birds, like those of
the gallinaceous kind, are represented
in the more volatile species by perform
ances in the air, and those are very
much more beautiful, while a large
number of bilds-hawks, vultures,
swifts, swallows, night airs. storks,
ibises, spoonbills and gulls-circle
about in the air, singly or in
f1ocks Sometimes, in serene weather.
they rise to a vast altitude and float
about in one spot for an hour or longer
at stretch, showing faint bird cloud
in the blue, that does not change its
form nor grow higher or denser like
flock of starlings; but IN the seeming
confusion there is perfect order. and
amid many hundreds each swift or slow
gliding figure keeps its proper distance
with such eXactitude that no two ever
touch, even with the extremity OF the
long wings, tapping or motionless-such
a multitude, and such miraculous pre-
cision in the endless curving motions of
all the members of it, that the spectator
can lie for au hour on his back without
WEAKNESS watching this mystic cloud
dance in the empyrean. The black
ia ed ibis of Patagonia, a bird nearly as
large as turkey, INDUCES in a curious
mad performance. usually in evening,
when feeding-time is over. The birds
of flock. while winging their way to
the rooSting-place, all at once seem
possessed with frenzy, simultaneously
dashing downward with amazing viO-
lence, doubling about in the most eccen-
trio manner, and, when close to the
surface, rising again to repeat the &C
ton, all the while making the air pal
pitate for miles around with their hard,
metallic cries. Other ibiSes, also birds
eff other genera, have similar aerial per-
formances.
The displays of most ducks known to
me take the form of mock fights on the
water. One exception is the handsome
and loquacious whistling widgeon, OF
La Plata, which has pretty aerial per-
Torrance. A dozen or twenty birds rise
up till they appear like small specks in
the sky. and sometimes disappear from
sight altogether, ard at that great alti-
tude they continue lowering in one spot,
often for all hour or longer, alternately
closing and separating, the fine, bright.
whistling notes and flourisheS of the
male curionsly harmoniZing with the
grave, measured notes of the female;
and every time they close they slap
each other on the wings so smartly that
the sound can be distinctly heard, like
applauding hand-claps, even after the
birds have ceased to be visible. The
rails, active, sprightly birds with power
full and varied voices, are great per-
formers; butowlng to the nature of the
ground they inhabit and to their shy,
suspicious character, it is not easy to
observe their antics. The finest Of the
Platan rails is the ypecaha, beautiful,
active bird, about the size of the fowl.
Of hQUQ
assembling place on a small area of
smooth, level ground, just above the
water, and hemmed in by immense rush
beds. First, one bird among the rushes
emitS powerful cry, thrice repeated :
and this is a note of invitation, quickly
responded to by other birds from all
SIDES as they hurriedly repair to the
usual place. In few moments they
appear, to the number of a dozen or
twenty, bursting from the rushes and
running into the open space, and in
stantly beginning the performance.
This is q tremendous screaming
concert. The screams they utter
have a certain resemblance to the
human voice, eXerted to Its utmost
pitch and expression OF extreme terror.
frenzy and despair. A long, piercing
shrek, astonishing for its yehemence
ROnOls 10 OuOOOOuOu Ny lOWCl
note. as if in the first the creature had
well nigh exhausted itself; this double
scream is repeated several times, and
followed by other sounds, re-
sembling, as they rise and
fall, half smothered cries OF
pains aud means of anguish. Suddenly
the unearthly shrieks are renewed in
all their power. While screaming the
birds rush from side to side, as If pos
sessed with madness, the wings spread
and vibrating, the long beak wide open
and raised vertically. This exhibition
lasts three or four minutes, after which
the assembly peacefully breaks up.
The singular wattled, wing-Spurred
and long-toed jacana has remarkable
5 performance, which seems specially de-
signed to bring out the concealed beauty
of the silky, greenish-golden wing
quilts. The birds go singly OF in pairs,
and dozen or fifteen individuals may
be found in marshy place feeding with
in sight of each other. Occasionally, in
response to note of invitation, they all
in moment leave off feeding and fly to
one spot, and, forming close cluster