Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-22
WHO INVENTED DANCING?
By Walter Prichard Eaton
HNHE one.step and waltz have one Of tho

performed by man. Men and women
danced long before the earliest days Of re.
corded history, and the animals danced
before man. The dance is a biological sur.
vival, and when you come upon a group
of young people dancing you see but a
relic of the mating instinct, nodded,
adapted, superlaid with a thousand ovet.
tones by centuries Of civilization. TIE
fact is even vaguely recognized at times;
girls have been known to go to a dance
to catch a man! The waltz has been pro-
vocative of courtship-at least, the good,
old fashioned. dreamy waltz Of a bygone
age. when Johann Strauss was considered
a musician and Irving Berlin was un.
known.
/ have been inspired to these profound
remarks by reading paper on '"The Heath
Hen Of Martha's Vineyard" by Edward H.
Forbush Massachusetts State Ornithologist,
in the American Museum journal.
THE heath hen is game bird which was
l. once common in northeastern America.
extending south to Pennsylvania and pos.
sibly west through Ohio and Kentucky. It
Is a species of the prairie chicken, but
little smaller and ruddier in color. But 1t
was not in the early days distinguished
from the prairie chicken, and consequently
nothing definite is known about the west.
ern limits of its range, because by 1885,
thanks to the lack of protection laws and
the general game hoggishness of American
hunters. it had been entirely wiped out of
existence except on Martha's Vineyard
Island off the southern coast Of Massa.
chusetts. It was preserved there in small
numbers. thanks to local pride, and in 1907
the state set aside n reservation for the
existing birds on which all hunting has
been ever since rsidly prohibited and con.
stant efforts made to eliminate cats, hawks
and other enemies as we'll as man. Even
so. the fight has beer a hard one. Doctor
Forbush says that after the forest fire Of
1905 only twenty.one birds remained. In
1916 there were probably 1000. But then
came forest fire and the next winter a
flight of goshawks, and the following sea-
son, IN April, he could find only 120 birds,
mostly males. A few birds had meanwhile
been sent to Long Island and to Essex
County, Mass, but all the Long Island
birds died. An evil fate seems to follow
the poor creatures. Even as far back as
1884, when the Massachusetts LEGISLATURE
enacted a law for their protection, the
printer conspired against them and the
astonished solons found on their desks at
the state House a paper with the follow.
ing title: "A Bill to Protect the Heather
Of Marthas Vineyard"
THE most interesting characteristic Of
l. the heath hen, which. of course it
shares with the prairie chicken and to a
less extent with other species Of grouse, Is
the males dancing and footing at mating
time. Doctor Forbush lay in a blind Of
corn shocks and observed at close range
the antics of never less than twenty five
male birds, while a few females walked
about picking up corn and seemingly not
at all impressed. The dance can be best
described in his own words.
"WHILE the male is dancing the body
w is inclined forward" he writes, "the
neck stretched out horizontally with the
bill pointed downward; the plumage is
fuffed, the tail erected and more or less
spread, the wings dropping or partly
spread downward, but the lowest of the
separated primary quills rarely reaches the
ground The pnnates. neck tufts, are
erected like rabbits ears or thrown away
forward in front of the lowered head. with
the points together like an inverted v. In
this position the bird initiates the orange
air sacks on the sides of the neck, which
are about the size of tennis ball.
With all his beauties thus displayed the
heath cock is a handsome fellow but seems
bizarre and unbirdlike to human eyes.
THE booming or footing sound is pro.
duced not when the air is expelled from
the sacks, but while they are swelling. It
may be likened to the soughing of the
wind or the noise produced by blowing
gently into small bottle. but is more
musical.
S6NHE males danced much of the time
L while producing these sounds The
dance reminds one Of similar perform
ances by Indians The bird bows or leans
forward, with muscles tense and rigid lift
ing the feet stifily but quickly and striking
them down hard and very fast upon the
ground, so that the sound may be heard
for rods Sometimes he stands in his
place while dancing merely wheels a
little to right or left. Again he rushes for
ward five or ten feet or makes short rushes
around the female in segments equaling
about one-third of a circle, sometimes cir.
cling her in three or four runs, but never
seeming to approach very near her. =
Sometimes male seems to challenge all
creation by flying up few feet, cackling
r,a ,,x,ylo
of the compass, so that in alighting he
faces a new direction
THE likeness Of this performance of the
heath hen to the mating dances Of
primitive peoples, as described in the
works of anthropology. is apparent II
shows that the dance was one of the
things that Man brought with him up from
the lower orders whence he evolved. At
about the time Doctor Forbush's paper