COURTSHIP AND SEX 189 



hill of Venus is lively. " Birds dart like lightning over the 

 ground, turn, crouch, dart again, ruffle about each demure- 

 looking, unperturbed little attraction, spring at each other, 

 and then, as though earth were inadequate as a medium of 

 emotional expression, rise into the air and dart around over- 

 head, on the wing. The air resounds with the frequent 

 dull shock of bodies, and the violent whirring of wings ; it is 

 all motion, all energy, at the very fever-point of excitement, 

 and then, all at once, a sudden cessation, almost a sudden 

 death — only the feathers of each bird's back to be seen, or 

 the tops of their head-gear, or ruff, or tail-feathers waving, 

 here and there, in the wind, as they lie in tense, rigid im- 

 mobiUty, like so many little bows of Ulysses, bent by them- 

 selves and ready, each moment, to spring back " (Selous, 

 1907, p. 163). And then, after an interval, there are 

 preferences and pairings, the reeves caressing their chosen 

 mates and soliciting them, so that a favourite ruff may pair 

 more than twice as often as all his rivals together. 



The important general inference that Mr. Selous drew 

 from his observations is " that the reeve has the full power 

 of choice, and that she exercises it in such a manner as to 

 make it evident that she chooses this or that bird for himself, 

 for something about him, that is to say, by virtue of which 

 she likes him better than another, either always or at this or 

 that time. I believe that this something is, in the main, 

 his appearance, and that in so far as vigour may be a selected 

 quality, it is selected only incidentally to this, which, 

 however, would often be the case " (1907, p. 381). 



In the case of the Blackcock Selous distinguishes between 

 the formal display before the female and the totally different 

 ecstatic leaping into the air, which does not seem to be 

 significant in courtship. He believes that the so-called 

 combats are of minor importance and not very serious ; the 

 important activity is the display which prepossesses the 

 female, and in this the cock exhibits all his best points. The 

 female plays a quite indispensable part ; the display cannot 

 go on without her ; she is jealous, even to assault and battery, 

 of other females, during its continuance ; she gives evidence 



