372 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



Huxley on the Courtship of the Great Crested Grebe. 



[The courtship-habits of the Great Crested Grebe {Podiceps cristatus) ; 

 with an addition to the theory of sexual selection. By Julian S. 

 Huxley, B.A. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1914, pp. 491-562 ; 2 plates.] 



Prof. Huxley, who is, we understand^, a grandson of the 

 great Prof. Thomas Huxley of Victorian days^ has given 

 us a long and elaborate account of the courtship of the 

 Great Crested Grebe, and has illustrated with his pencil 

 some of the more remarkable of the attitudes assumed by 

 the birds on these occasions. 



Not only has he spent much time in observation, but he 

 has endeavoured to give a rational explanation of these 

 actions. In the first place, he points out that in the case 

 of the Great Crested Grebe the movements and attitudes 

 assumed are always mutual. It is a joint action of the two 

 sexes in which each takes part. Among most birds the 

 courtship movements and attitudes are confined to the 

 male sex. But in this case the joint action is doubtless 

 correlated with the fact that the crest and rufi", although 

 only assumed in the breeding-season, are common to both 

 sexes. Another point is that the courtship movements 

 do not appear to have anything to do with actual coition, 

 as while the former goes on in the open spaces of the lake 

 and in the water, the latter takes place on a nest pro- 

 bably specially built for the purpose and in a retired spot 

 among the rushes. The assumption of the. sexual characters 

 in this case can, therefore, in Prof. Huxley's opinion, not be 

 due to the action of sexual selection as ordinarily under- 

 stood, but to a modified form of selection, which is explained 

 at length by the author and termed mutual selection. 



The paper is a very interesting one, and we can strongly 

 recommend its perusal to all interested in the courtship and 

 display of birds. 



Montague on the Birds of the Monte Bello Islands. 



[A report on the fauna of the Monte Bello Islands. By P. D. 

 Montague, B.A., Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge. Proc. Zool. 

 Soc. 1914, pp. 625-652 ; 4 plates.] 



Mr. IVIontague spent three months in 1912 on the IMonte 



