MARRIAGE 



exception of those which are polygamous, the 

 work of providing food and the general care of 

 the family is divided equally between the sexes. 



In the matter of courtship, too, birds stand far 

 higher in the scheme of evolution than the mere 

 mammal. Here the aesthetic side of love-making 

 comes into view, almost for the first time, in our 

 study of wild nature. The male, forgetting the 

 bare utilitarian aspects of life, begins to develop 

 graces of appearance and of manner, calculated to 

 appeal to the more romantic sense of the lady- 

 love. In the spring not only does the lapwing 

 " get himself another crest" after the manner 

 of the swain who dons a more effective necktie, 

 but in addition he places himself in attitudes and 

 adopts an altogether novel deportment, which 

 we may safely assume has a generally winning 

 effect upon the assembled fair ones who are coyly 

 observing him. 



That some of these attitudes, as, for example, 

 that of the love-sick shag, do not seem suitable, 

 from a merely human standpoint, to compel 

 admiration, is beside the question. The eternal 

 feminine is notoriously erratic in her likes and 

 dislikes, and it may well be that this is one of the 

 things which the feminine shag happens to like. 

 Indeed, in bird life a whole range of personal 

 fascinations are exhibited, grading down from 

 the most graceful and beautiful to the wholly 

 grotesque. 



The peacock suddenly extends the starry wonder 

 of his tail with a really radiant and impressive 

 effect ; the pigeon turns in studied circles, and 

 with swelling throat coos a burning appeal ; a 

 manner of wooing which, curiously enough, is 

 followed after a fashion by an altogether dis- 

 similar bird, the long-eared owl ; even the stolid 

 rook with contorted form and reiterated caws 



109 



