THE LAPWING 377 



scrape. Mr. Brock states that " On the lapse of a day or two thus 

 spent the scraping antics become less frequent, and the birds are con- 

 tent to remain quietly in each other's company, usually at no great 

 distance from the scrapes. . . . On the occurrence of coition, however, 

 which first takes place a few days before egg-laying, a renewed activity 

 is shown. Immediately following this rite the female proceeds straight 

 to the scrape, and works in it with energy and thoroughness hitherto 

 unequalled, the male frequently taking his place in a neighbouring 

 scrape. Between her bouts of energetic foot-work the female plays 

 with stubbles, jerking them over her shoulder." Mr. Brock thinks that 

 the scrape in which the female works immediately after coition is the 

 one eventually adopted as a nest, in which the eggs are laid ; I under- 

 stand him to say that he has known this to be so in some cases. 1 



Mr. Selous describes their actions at this period in similar terms, 

 but on two occasions after pairing took place on one of which the 

 male flew down and paired with the female without previously alight- 

 ing, the male ran for a short distance in the attitude in which the 

 head and neck are held in a line with the body and then pitched for- 

 ward and commenced to roll. The female followed, and on the male 

 moving forward and sinking down again apparently in another scrape, 

 she took his place in the first one, pecking at the ground in front of 

 her as she worked. 2 



In the displaying pose, and when scraping near his mate, the male 

 generally contrives to present his back view to her, so displaying the 

 brightly coloured under tail-coverts. 3 From my observations I should 

 pronounce this to be almost invariably the case. But whether the 

 object is to display this part of the plumage it is difficult to say. The 

 female is equally well endowed, so far as the colour of the under tail- 

 coverts is concerned. As a rule, when male birds deliberately exhibit 

 some part of their plumage in courtship, it is a part that conspicuously 

 distinguishes them from the female. In fact, if sexual selection goes 



1 Zoologist, 1911, pp. 302-3. * Bird-life Glimpses, p. 165. 



3 See also Zoologist, 1911, p. 302 ; and Bird-life Glimpses, p. 167. 



