With some species, which, it should be remarked, also lack distinctive colouring, the erotic state is manifested apparently not so much by the display of expanded wings and tail as by frenzied dances. The Jacanas, aberrant members of the Plover tribe resident in South America, are expert performers, displaying moreover a curious spontaneity during such outbursts. A flock will be apparently sedulously feeding when suddenly and with quick, excited gestures all will cluster together in a group and go through a singular and pretty performance, holding their wings outstretched and agitated, some with a fluttering and others with more leisurely movement, like that of a butterfly sunning itself. The performance over, all scatter and feed again.. The Honourable Walter Rothschild, in his “Avi-fauna of Laysan” tells us of the stately Albatross, which breeds, or rather bred there—for the Japanese display a singular callousness in regard to animal life where commercial interests are concerned in thousands: “First they stand face to face, then they begin nodding and bowing vigorously, then rub their bills together with a whistling cry. After this they begin shaking their heads and snapping their bills with marvellous rapidity, occasionally lifting one wing, straightening themselves out and blowing out their breasts; then they put their bills under the wing or toss them in the air with a groaning scream, and walk round each other often for fifteen minutes at a time.” Cranes are much given to dancing. Mr. Nelson, an American ornithologist, has described with much vigour the dancing of the Sandhill Crane in Alaska. As he lay in a “hunting-blind” he was suddenly aroused by the arrival of a crane, followed speedily by a second, uttering his loud note as he came, until he espied the first-comer on the ground, when he made a circuit and dropped close by. Both birds then joined in a series of loud rolling cries in quick succession. Suddenly, the last-comer, which seemed to be a male, wheeled his back towards the female and made a low bow, his head nearly touching the ground, and ending by a quick leap into the air. Another pirouette brought him facing his charmer, whom he greeted with a still deeper bow, his wings trailing loosely by his sides. She replied by an answering bow and hop, and then tried to outdo the other in a series of spasmodic hops and starts, mixed with a set of comically grave and ceremonious bows. The pair stood for some moments bowing right and left, when the legs appeared to become envious of the large share taken in the performance by the neck, and then would ensue a series of skilled hops and skips, like the steps of a minuet. Such antics are characteristic of the Cranes of all species, and sometimes a whole flock will join in such dances. But, it is to be noted, they are not necessarily signs of the _furor amantium_: they certainly always accompany this, but frequently they are indulged in, apparently, solely