Year
Unknown
Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
As soon as we had crossed the road to the
hills, however, some piping started. At
first the piping was raucous, then it was
softer "whit", then raucous again. When I
located the piper he was coming down out of the
ridge about 10 yds. to the N.E. of the dung.
stopped piping.
A Crest up, and it looked quite large in relation to
dung. The bird walked within 2 ft. of the
dung and stood still examining it for about
1 whole minute, then turned at least off to
the right to feed, resumed piping. Soon I saw
piper duck into grass and another bird appear
out of the ridge about 10 ft. to the left of bird #1.
I am convinced both these birds were Crests. The
second bird ran to the place where the first
bird had been, looked about briefly until he spotted
the first bird, and then chased him hard in
circles & meanly broke & forth until first bird flew
screeching off to the right a short distance. Second
bird then made his way back to the dung,
pecking as he went, and walked up to within a
few inches of the dung. Either the dung or some
other thing (birds?) frightened him, at the
second bird ran up the hill and to the left. As
he crossed the meadows there came into view
in the same field a pair of birds. The male of
the pair was displaying frantically and being chased
for his efforts. Gradually they worked their