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The Descent of Man

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disgusting carrion-vultures (Cathartes jota) the<br />

same naturalist states that "the gesticulations<br />

and parade <strong>of</strong> the males at the beginning <strong>of</strong> the<br />

love-season are extremely ludicrous." Certain<br />

birds perform their love-antics on the wing, as<br />

we have seen with the black African weaver,<br />

instead <strong>of</strong> on the ground. During the spring our<br />

little white-throat (Sylvia cinerea) <strong>of</strong>ten rises a<br />

few feet or yards in the air above some bush,<br />

and "flutters with a fitful and fantastic motion,<br />

singing all the while, and then drops to its<br />

perch." <strong>The</strong> great English bustard throws himself<br />

into indescribably odd attitudes whilst<br />

courting the female, as has been figured by<br />

Wolf. An allied Indian bustard (Otis bengalensis)<br />

at such times "rises perpendicularly into the<br />

air with a hurried flapping <strong>of</strong> his wings, raising<br />

his crest and puffing out the feathers <strong>of</strong> his<br />

neck and breast, and then drops to the ground;"<br />

he repeats this manoeuvre several times, at the<br />

same time humming in a peculiar tone. Such<br />

females as happen to be near "obey this saltato-

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