Chap. XIY.l LENGTII OF COURTSHIP. 97 



case it is not expressly stated that the females meet on 

 the same trees, but the hunters, if not specially asked, 

 would not probably mention their presence, as their skins 

 are valueless. Small parties of an African weaver (Plo- 

 ceus) congregate, during the breeding-season, and perform 

 for hours their graceful evolutions. Large numbers of 

 the Solitary snipe (Scolojmx major) assemble during the 

 dusk in a morass ; and the same place is frequented for 

 the same purpose during successive years ; here they may- 

 be seen running about " like so many large rats," puffing 

 out their feathers, flapping their wings, and uttering the 

 strangest cries. 2 



Some of the above-mentioned birds, namely, the black- 

 cock, capercailzie, pheasant-grouse, the ruff, the Solitary 

 snipe, and perhaps some others, are, as it is believed, po- 

 lygamists. With such birds it might have been thought 

 that the stronger males would simply have driven away 

 the weaker, and then at once have taken possession of as 

 many females as possible ; but if it be indispensable for 

 the male to excite or please the female, we can understand 

 the length of the courtship and the congregation of so 

 many individuals of both sexes at the same spot. Certain 

 species which are strictly monogamous likewise hold nup- 

 tial assemblages ; this seems to be the case in Scandinavia 

 with one of the ptarmigans, and their leks last from the 

 . middle of March to the middle of May. In Australia the 

 lyre-bird or Menura superba forms "small round hillocks," 

 and the M. Alberti scratches for itself shallow holes, or, as 

 they are called by the natives, coiToborying-places, where 



2 With respect to the assemblages of the above-named grouse, see 

 Brehm, ' Thierleben,' B. iv. s. 350 ; also L. Lloyd, ' Game-Birds of Swe- 

 den,' 1867, pp. 19, 78. Richardson, 'Fauna Bor. Americana,' Birds, p. 

 862. References in regard to the assemblages of other birds have pre- 

 viously been given. On Paradisea, see Wallace, in 'Annals and Mag. of 

 Nat. Hist.' vol. xx 1857, p. 412. On the snipe, Lloyd, ibid. p. 221. 

 24 



