AN ESSAY ON BIRD-MIND 113 



can ever forget it. But such unforgettable scenes are 

 not confined to other countries. Here in England 

 you can see as good ; I have seen them on the reservoirs 

 of Tring, and w^ithin full view^ of the road by Frensham 

 Pond — the courtship forms and dances of the Crested 

 Grebe. 



The Crested Grebe is happily becoming more 

 familiar to bird-lovers in England. Its brilliant vv^hite 

 belly, protective grey-brow^n back, rippleless and 

 effortless diving, long neck, and splendid ruff and 

 ear-tufts of black, chestnut, and w^hite, conspire to 

 make it a marked bird. In the w^inter the crest is 

 small, and even when fully grown in spring it is 

 usually held close down against the head, so as to be 

 not at all conspicuous. When it is spread, it is almost, 

 without exception, in the service of courtship or love- 

 making. Ten years ago I spent my spring holiday 

 watching these birds on the Tring reservoirs. I soon 

 found out that their courtship, like the Herons', 

 was mutual, not one-sidedly masculine as in Peacocks 

 or fowls. It consisted most commonly in a little 

 ceremony of head-shaking. The birds of a pair 

 come close, face one another, raise their necks, and 

 half-spread their ruffs. Then, with a little barking 

 note, they shake their heads rapidly, following this 

 by a slow swinging of them from side to side. This 

 alternate shaking and swinging continues perhaps a 

 dozen or twenty times ; and the birds then lower 

 their standards, become normal everyday creatures, 



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