Photo: Stanley Crook.

In the case of the Starling the imma-
ture birds have dull colouring, but the
bright iridescent plumage of the adults
is worn by male and female alike
irrespective of season.



variable colour and pattern.



and white almost all over during the time
475



THE PAGEKHT OF NATURE




t'hote : Rilcy Fortune, F.Z.S.

The Ruff in winter lacks the distinctive
ornament the frill of feathers, of very
variable colour and pattern, which gives
him his name developed in the breeding
season.

when the ground there is usually covered
with snow. There are perhaps other cases,
although less obvious than this one, in
which we should be cautious about adopting
any theory of ornament where the changes
that occur are not dependent upon sex.

When the season of courtship
and mating arrives there is often
much more than a mere passive
wearing of brilliant plumes there
is a definite attempt to display
them to the best advantage. The
cock will perhaps stand in a
crouching attitude before his mate,
raising his crest if he has one,
drooping his wings, and erecting
and spreading his tail. Although
a foreign bird, the peacock with
his gorgeous train is perhaps to us
the most familiar instance of this
kind of display, and among former
but now practically banished
British birds the great bustard is
a particularly fine example ; there
is a specimen of a male bustard
in the extraordinary attitude of
display in the Natural History
Museum at South Kensington,
although none, unhappily, is
nowadays to be seen alive on the
Sussex Downs.



Among relatively common British birds
the bla^k grouse provides one of the best
examples of the habit of courtship display
and combat, and the fortunate observer
say in a wooded part of the Scottish High-
lands at the dawn of an early summer day
may see some such sight as was described
by that great ornithologist, William Mac-
gillivray : " Although destitute of spurs, it
fights in the same manner as the domestic
cock, lowering its head, erecting and spread-
ing its tail, and leaping against its adversary,
endeavouring to drive him off, and if possible
tear him to pieces. The combats, however,
are less bloody than those of our game-
cocks, although they are engaged in with
so much earnestness than an unscrupulous
fowler might easily carry destruction among
the gallants. A cock who has beaten off his
opponents from his favourite station betakes
himself to it morning and evening, and
struts in a pompous manner, with spread
tail and stiffened wings rustling against the
ground, calls aloud with a harsh grating
voice an'd invites the neighbouring females,
or rather challenges those of his own sex
within hearing to come forward and dispute
his claim to the favour of his elect brides."
In this species the male is known as the
blackcock, and the female as the greyhen ;




Photo: Alfrta. Taylor.

Kingfishers young and old of both sexes have
the brightest plumage of any British birds.

476



WONDERS OF BIRD LIFE




The Ruffs, in summer time, gather on little mounds and engage in regular tournaments;

the bill is the weapon and the "ruff" serves as a shield. The fights have the

appearance of being furious, but are usually bloodless.



as these names imply, there is a very dis-
tinct sexual difference in the plumage.

The lapwing, or peewit, is a still more
familiar bird which has a well-marked
courtship ritual. In this the making of
scrapes or " cock's nests " by the male bird
plays a great part, and it appears that when



a female is induced to follow the male in
excavating one of these hollows she may be
regarded as having accepted his suit, and
it may be that this particular scrape becomes
the true nest of the pair. There is also a
curious approach which the courting male
makes towards the female in a crouching




J'hoto: P. Webster.

The Reeve is the female of the Ruff species. Her plumage is quite different from that
of her mate and is designed for concealment rather than display.

477



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



position, with outstretched neck and flat-
tened crest and an attitude of display in
which his tail is spread and erected. After
pairing, the male also indulges in a love-
flight of a playful and acrobatic nature, and
during this his cry of whee-weet gives place
to a " song," which has been syllabled
whey - willuchooee - willuch - willnch - cooee.
Combats take place between males in the air,




The sexes of the Golden Plover are alike in
plumage, which in summer is transformed into
"nuptial" attire, when the underparts become
black, with a white edging between these and the
greenish-gold of the upper surface.



and one male is particularly quick to resent
any attempt of another to make scrapes in
what he regards as his peculiar territory.

The ruff, to which we have referred, is
now rather an uncommon British bird,
breeding only in small numbers in the
marshes of the east of England. In summer
the male has the curious ornament from
which it takes its name (the female being
called a " reeve "), and to which allusion
has already been made. Where they are
found in sufficient numbers the males,
which are polygamous, gather on little
mounds and engage in regular tournaments ;
the bill is the weapon and the " ruff "
serves as a shield. These combats are
fought out with a great appearance of fury,
but are usually harmless in their result.



A rather different kind of performance
associated with the mating season is the
strange love-flight of the woodcock, of
which we cannot do better than quote
the late Professor Newton's description :
" During this season the male woodcock
performs at twilight flights of a remarkable
kind, repeating evening after evening (and
it is believed at dawn also) precisely the
same course, generally describing
a triangle, the sides of which may
be a quarter of a mile long or
more. On these occasions the
bird's appearance on the wing is
quite unlike that which it presents
when hurriedly flying after being
flushed, and though its speed is
great, the beats of the wings are
steady and slow. At intervals an
extraordinary sound is produced,
whether from the throat of the
bird, as is commonly averred, or
from the plumage is uncertain.
To the present writer the sound
seems to defy description, though
some hearers have tried to syllable
it. This characteristic flight is in
some parts of England called
" reading," and the track taken
by the bird a " cock-road." In
England in former times advantage
was taken of this habit to catch
the simple performer in nets called
" cock-shutts," which were hung
between trees across the open
glades or rides of a wood, and in
many parts of the Continent it
still is, or was till very lately, the disgrace-
ful habit of persons calling themselves
sportsmen to lie in wait and shoot the bird
as he indulges in his measured love-flight."
These are but a few examples in which
special habits of courtship are particularly
well marked, but in almost every species
these performances have some counter-
part. They have been described for many
British birds, ranging from the great-crested
grebe down to some of the smallest warblers.
Brilliant plumage is not essential, or at least
not plumage which is noticeably ornamental
in our eyes, for many a sober-hued little
bird will go through all the motions of
" display " erected tail, drooping wings
and bowing body before the mate of his
choice. Some birds are more combative



478




WOODCOCK.

The plumage of this species is a most effective piece of "camouflage." In the mating
season the male performs a remarkable love-flight, sometimes called " reading."



THE PAGEANT OF NATURE



than others, the robin and the moorhen
being familiar examples of pugnacity, and
some have special weapons like the spurs
of males of the " game-bird " group (which
includes the domestic fowl).

There has also to be considered the part
which music plays, but it would probably




The ornamental crest of the Lapwing is worn by
both sexes throughout the year. There is a pro-
nounced courtship ritual, which includes many
strange gestures on the part of the male.



be a mistake to think of song as no more than
the vocal aspect of courtship. Undoubtedly,
however, song is most in evidence in the
mating season, and is important in the
musicians' wooing. It must, nevertheless,
be remembered that there is recrudescence
of song in the autumn after the silence of
the later summer and that some birds,
like the skylark, sing almost throughout the
year. Professor Garstang, indeed, urges
that birds " cultivate the pursuit of sound-
combinations as an art " which " becomes
to many of them a real object of life."
If our native birds are on the whole less



brilliantly plumaged than those of tropic
lands, we have at least no reason to complain
of their music, for in this they excel. Such
songsters as the thrush, the blackbird, the
nightingale, the blackcap, the garden-
warbler, and the skylark to name only what
are perhaps our leading half-dozen will
hold their own with any in the
world. All these birds with true
song belong to the great natural
order of the perching-birds, but
outside its limits there are many
others which utter sounds which
may be classed in the same category
as song, although they be less
musical in our ears the call of
the cuckoo, say, the bubbling spring
note of the curlew, or even the
hoarse grunting cry of the breeding
guillemot. There are sounds, too,
which are not vocal, as, for instance,
the " drumming " or " bleating "
which the snipe makes in spring
and which is caused by the
vibration of the stiff outer tail-
feathers during rapid downward
flight.

Many birds are monogamous,
and there is good ground for
believing that in some cases pairing
is for life. Others are polygamous
like the pheasant, where one cock
mates with several hens : a few go
to the other extreme and are poly-
androus, while the relations of
cuckoos may possibly be best
described as promiscuous. As a
general rule the monogamous cocks
take an important share in the
domestic duties ; they help to
build the nest and to feed the
young, and they either take their turn at
incubation or they bring food to their
sitting mates. The polygamists, on the
other hand, are bad fathers ; having several
families they look after none. The wild
ducks of various species are generally
monogamous ; but we have already seen that
the drakes have a special reason for not taking
part in the care of the eggs and the young.
It may be noted also that when the mallard
is domesticated by man it loses its monoga-
mous habits in the farmyard, with many
other virtues besides, and becomes a poly-
gamist.



oto : T. M. Fowlc.



480



WONDERS OF BIRD LIFE



It is among the polygamous species that
we find the best examples of males with
distinctively decorative plumage and well-
marked habits of courtship " display " and
of combat for mates. In these cases there
is a superfluity of males and the competition
is greatest.

The only native example of a bird with
truly polyandrous tendencies is the red-
necked phalarope, a member of the sand-
piper group which breeds in some of the
Scottish isles. Here the female is the larger
and brighter bird, and it is she who does most
of the courting and fighting, while the greater
part of the domestic duties fall to the share
of the males. Polyandry, however, appears
to be more conspicuously developed as a
habit in certain other phalaropes than in our
species, and in these the female, when once
she has left a clutch of eggs in the care of a
cock bird, appears regularly to seek out a
new father for a further family. Among the
birds of prey. also it is common for the
female to be the larger of the pair, and in the
sparrow-hawk the disparity in size is very
remarkable, but this fact is not associated
with any peculiarity in breeding habits.



In reviewing all the facts of which this
chapter gives a brief account, one gets an
impression of the high degree in which
are developed among birds special habits of
courtship, bodily ornament, and beauty of
voice. In many cases the ritual of court-
ship is very elaborate and must obviously
be the outcome of a long evolution in which
preferential mating the choice of the most
accomplished suitor has played its part.
It seems more doubtful whether the de-
velopment of ornamental plumage is the
result of sexual selection or whether it has
not been largely brought about by the
operation of other factors. There are many
complications to be borne in mind. We
have seen, for instance, that in some cases
the bright plumes and ornaments are not
the monopoly of the male. Sometimes, too,
the bright nuptial dress, whether of the
male or of both sexes, is worn only in the
breeding season, while in other instances
it persists throughout the year. As regards
song, we have noted that it is more than
a mere adjunct to courtship, and that in
some birds it forms part of the daily life
during almost the whole of the year.




Plu'to: Alfred Taylor,

As is commonly the case with the birds of prey, the male of the Sparrow-hawk is a

much smaller bird than his mate.




Pied Wagtails are frequent victims of the female Cuckoo. If the Wagtail's own eggs

are already advanced in incubation, the intruder will either destroy them or drive

the bird away for the sole purpose of making her rebuild.



22.-THE WILES OF THE CUCKOO

By GEORGE J. SGHOLEY

With photographs by the Author and H. H. Turner



FOR many years I vainly endeavoured
to solve the mystery of the des-
truction of various nests of eggs
and young birds on restricted areas in-
habited by female cuckoos.

Boys, snakes, vermin and jays were
among the many causes I attributed to
the mysterious disappearance of these
nests, and it was not until the nesting
season of 1921 that I had occasion to
confirm a fleeting suspicion that it might
be due to my old favourite the cuckoo
with some ulterior motive in view. During
the season of 1922 I made plans to run
the mystery to earth, and was at once
rewarded by the discovery of such remark-
able behaviour on the part of a female
cuckoo as has never before been suspected.



A week following her arrival on April
26th she made systematic tours of inspec-
tion of her territory which comprised
a chalk quarry of roughly four acres in
extent and had soon found all the nests
of the pied wagtails then in course of
construction. A rigid watch from sunrise
to sunset during her stay revealed for the
first time the fact that she deliberately and
ruthlessly destroyed all the nests of pied
wagtails' eggs which were too far advanced
in incubation to allow of her own egg
being hatched with the wagtails.

On every occasion where I found she
had purposely destroyed the nests of eggs
and young birds of her natural fosterers
it was proved beyond doubt that such
behaviour was performed for the sole



482



WONDERS OF BIRD LIFE



purpose of driving the wagtails to rebuild , and
so have fresh nests ready for the depositing
of her own eggs on equal terms with those
of her fosterers. Throughout the season
she created her own facilities for the
successful deposit of her eggs at the right
and proper times, a very notable case
being that in which she found a nest
of incubated wagtail's eggs which she
could not destroy by reason of the entrance
hole to the nest being so restricted. She,
however, remained at the entrance and
frustrated all efforts of the wagtails to
enter, with the result that the eggs got cold
and the wagtails deserted. A new nest
was immediately proceeded with, which
received her egg a week later ; and so
the game went on throughout the season.
Where there were two nests of her
natural fosterer on her territory in the
same condition say, each containing four
fresh eggs she would deposit her own
egg in one to-day and return a few hours
later to remove an egg from the remaining
nest. This, of course, induced the wagtail
to lay a further egg and so have the nest



ready for the cuckoo when she came to
deposit her own egg two days later.

She laid fourteen eggs during her stay,
proving faithful to the wagtails throughout.
The eggs were laid in three relays with
forty-eight-hour intervals between each
egg, and she always found the nests of
her intended victims at least two days
previous to using them. She laid her
first egg on May i4th and her last on
July 5th, and on each occasion she removed
an egg of the fosterer when depositing her



own.



Following the laying of her last egg on
July 5th, she was not seen again until
July i Qth (exactly an incubation period).
When she returned to the quarry on this
evening she visited most of the places
where she had deposited eggs, and I have
seriously wondered whether she could
possibly have been endeavouring to ascertain
the results of her season's work. She gave
another look round the following morning,
and we were all sorry when we saw her
fly off for what proved to be the last time
that season July 2Oth, 1922.



1 1




A female Cuckoo on a raiding expedition. She is investigating the nesting-hole
of a Pied Wagtail, for the purpose of destroying the eggs.

483




Plioto : y. T. Veivmxn.



Discarding the usual habits of his kind, a Blackbird thought fit to have a roof to its
dwelling, and built its nest inside an old tin bucket at the bottom of a chalk-pit

in the Chilterns.



23.-SOME QUEER NESTING -PLACES



By J. T. NEWMAN



BIRDS are not automata, and no more
than human beings will they regulate
their ways altogether by prescribed
rules. The love of adventure and experi-
ment seems to be an instinct that crops up
here and there, not only in man but
throughout the whole animal kingdom.
Indeed, if it did not, the forms of life on the
earth would be considerably less varied
than they are to-day ; for what the
first adventurous couple will do driven
either by necessity or by mere taste for
experiment, may easily become a racial
habit, and so tend to change or modify not
only the general ways but even the struc-
ture of the species.

To the naturalist, however, eccentricity
is always a little disconcerting. No sooner
does he establish some law accounting for
the behav'our of this or that species, than
some individual pair will surely defy it
and behave in an altogether outrageous
and unexpected way. The strange sites,
for instance, that birds will sometimes



choose for their nests are really puzzling,
and during the past thirty years many such
curious examples have come under my
personal observation.

Doubtless because it is fond of human
society, and nests, when permitted, near
or even in the house, it is the robin that has
supplied most examples in this direction
for my camera. Once, I remember, a
bowler hat that had been hung as a scare-
crow over the seed-bed was boldly appro-
priated by a pair of these birds. Seeing
the robins so much at home, other birds
gathered round, thus making a great joke
of the gardener's effort, for instead of a
warning, the old hat served, of course, as a
decoy. Eventually the whole thing was
removed to another site where, left in peace,
the robins successfully reared their family.

On removing a watering-can from a nail
in the greenhouse, where it had hung all
the winter, a friend of mine was once startled
by the sudden escape of a robin. Inside,
snug and dry, were nest and eggs ! He



484



WONDERS OF BIRD LIFE




all kinds lying boat in the nettles make
excellent nesting sites as they are dome-
shaped and weather-proof.

The wren is a more shy bird than the
robin, but a pair that I once knew chose
a strange home in a wire basket that
hung on a nail in a dark shed. The
building of the nest must have been a
laborious task, seeing that all the ma-
terials long straws almost equalling the
bird's own weight had to be drawn
through the small meshes of the wire.
But a cosy home was constructed, and
the presence of the workmen seemed to
disturb them not at all. Wrens are,
next to the gold-crest, the smallest of
British birds, and are so dainty and
charming that one would imagine they
must be beloved by all. Yet such is
the strength of superstition that in



J'iioro : y. T. Xewmati.

In a wire basket suspended from a
nail in a dark shed, a pair of Wrens
essayed the laborious task of making
a home. All the materials long
straws almost equalling the bird's
own weight had to be drawn
through the small meshes of the
wire-work.

replaced the can and gave orders
that it was not to be used until the
birds had finished with it, and,
thanks to his consideration, this
family also lived to fly out into the
world. I have seen robins nesting
in sheds and workshops within a
few feet of the workmen, quite
untroubled by all that was going on.
Once I found a pair ensconced in
a battered tin kettle almost drop-
ping to pieces and not even water-
proof and another nest was found
in a coffee-pot with entrance so
small that the birds could hardly
pass out. It was fortunate for the
family that the spout could serve
as ventilator! Tin receptacles of




I'luto: y T. Nf7fta>i.

A Swallow's nest on a chestnut branch some ten
feet from the ground is unique. Swallows had been
known for generations to nest in an adjoining barn,
but never in this tree. Yarrell states that a Swallow
built in a sycamore.

485



THE PAGEAffT OF NATURE




Photo: M. H. Crawford.

Robins sometimes choose odd nesting-places. A flower pot lying on its side, a battered
tin can, an old coffee-pot, and many other receptacles have served on occasion.



olden times this harmless little bird was
hunted to death, and that during the Christ-
mas season ! Legend tells us that when
St. Stephen was on the point of escaping
from prison, a wren flew in the face of the
gaoler and woke him thus detaining the
saint for his martyrdom. In some parts
notably the Isle of Man wren hunting
was a feature of the season between Christ-
mas and the New Year ; processions were
held, and mock services were carried out
over the bodies of the victims.

The wren's nest is an exquisite structure,
built usually in a low bush or a bank dome-
shaped, with a hole near the upper part just
large enough to allow the bird to enter ; it
is composed of moss and leaves and warmly
lined with feathers. Inside are the tiny
eggs each no bigger than a cherry-stone,
white with a few red spots, and six or eight
in number. Like most eggs that are laid
under shelter, they are very fragile and easily
crushed by a too clumsy ringer. I have
known many wren families in my garden,
and noticed that after they leave the nest



they gather together every evening and roost
among the ivy on an old oak tree. One
season some wrens, having outgrown their
own, took possession of the abandoned nest
of a greenfinch, and there I watched them
many times. So tame were they that I
was allowed to peer within a foot of them.
Did I but touch the leaves, however, they
would scatter in all directions, returning
only in answer to the call of the parents.
A swallow's nest on the branch of a chest-
nut was indeed a curiosity, and one I travelled
many miles to see. It stood overlooking
the Thames, a fine situation with wide views
over the surrounding country. Swallows
had been known to nest in an adjoining
barn for generations, but never before had
they built in this tree. It was on a branch
ten feet or so above the ground, swaying
in the breeze, while the parents came and
went, busy with their task of feeding the
four young birds. It was a difficult posi-
tion to photograph, but the farmer kindly
brought out a large Oxfordshire wain, and
from this elevation the picture was secured.



486



WONDERS OF BIRD LIFE



I much wished to photograph the birds in
the act of feeding the young, and waited a
long time for this purpose, but although the
old birds came and flew around, so swiftly
did they move that it was impossible to
catch them. No doubt the unusual pro-
ceedings and the sight of the camera had
thoroughly upset them. Thus I had to
be content with the picture reproduced
on page 485 > which, however, is unique
so far as my experience goes.

Swallows are particularly fond of farm
buildings ; the wide old wooden beams
afford such a good site for the nests, while
food in the shape of flies is always at hand.
They will also build inside the big old-
fashioned chimneys in spite of smoke and
soot ! In the country they are supposed
to bring good luck, and I well remember
my mother's injunction to the sweep not