Cije Hufcmbon ^octettes; 



SCHOOL DEPARTMENT 



Edited by A. A. ALLEN. Ph.D. 



Address all communications relative to the work of this 

 department to the Editor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y. 



THE COURTSHIP OF BIRDS 



"All the world loves a lover." It loves him because at this period of his 

 life, whatever good there is latent within him, whatever gentleness, comes 

 to the surface, and his real personality shines forth. Whether that per- 

 sonality be attractive or not does not concern us, it is at least interesting 

 if it is real. And so it is with birds, the period of courtship brings out the 

 personality of the bird and the characteristics of the species as at no other 

 time. One might easily learn to recognize every bird in his locality at sight, 

 but he does not really know a single species until he has followed its courtship 

 and peeped into its home life. Indeed we can understand but little of what 

 we hear from birds and not much more of what we see until we have followed 

 with a discerning eye through the period of mating and the rearing of the 

 young. Their weird calls and their enchanting songs, their elegant plumes 

 and their varied colors, their amusing antics and, indeed, many of their strange 

 structures take on a new meaning after we have watched their courtship per- 

 formances. We are all familiar with the display of the Peacock and the domestic 

 Turkey and have watched the vain struttings and excited chippering of the 

 Sparrow in the street, but the story of the vast majority of our commonest 

 birds has never been fully written. Some that are conspicuous in their demon- 

 strations, anyone can observe, but those that are less demonstrative require 

 most careful observation and a trained understanding. How many bird- 

 lovers, for example, who are so familiar with the Chickadees and Nuthatches 

 at their feeding-stations during the winter, have marked the change which 

 comes over them during March and April, and how many could describe their 

 courtship performances? 



The most conspicuous feature of a bird's courtship is its song. So much 

 has been written on bird-song, including an article in this Department for 

 May-June, 1920, that we will pass over it with a word. The song-period 

 varies with different species from those, like the Song Sparrow, that commence 

 with the first warm days of early spring and keep it up far into the molting 

 season of August and September, to those, like the Veery and Hermit Thrushes, 

 that seldom waste a song until the females arrive on the nesting-grounds. 

 And these same birds usually cease singing soon after the eggs hatch, though 

 they are often heard from again upon the inspiration of a second brood. Some 



(167) 



