MALLARD 221 



place. The display of the male, however, is of a much more elaborate 

 description, at its best exhibiting no less than five distinct postures. 

 As many as four or five rival males often take part in such per- 

 formances, and act in unison. In the opening movements all swim 

 round the female with the head drawn down close to the body, and in 

 an apparently unconcerned fashion. Then they will suddenly lower 

 their heads till the tips of the beaks are under water, and with this 

 the body is suddenly raised up into a standing posture, and main- 

 tained for a moment thus by the treading action of the feet, while the 

 beak, with a jerk, is withdrawn from the water and up the breast, a 

 jet of water being thrown forward as the beak leaves it. These 

 curious movements are commonly accompanied by a low whistle. 

 The normal swimming attitude is now momentarily assumed, but 

 quickly the hinder part of the body is raised and the tail spread, 

 while the neck is held somewhat stiffly and extended upwards. 

 Almost immediately after follows the final phase, when the tail is 

 lowered and the head and neck are stretched straight out along, and 

 touching, the water. This exact sequence, however, is not always 

 observed, but the final stretching out of the head and neck seems 

 always to follow immediately after pairing. 



Both Mr. Wormald and Mr. Millais are agreed that adult mallards 

 will commence " displaying " in October, so soon as the new super- 

 nuptial dress is completed. And Mr. Wormald has even seen them 

 displaying when in eclipse plumage ! Immature drakes begin to 

 display also in the autumn, but such performances lack the vigour of 

 the spring displays. 



While Mr. Millais seems to have been the first to draw attention 

 to the display of the mallard duck, Mr. J. L. Bonhote is apparently 

 the first to contend that the she actually chooses her mate. 1 His 

 observations, however, on this head, were made on captive specimens ; 

 though they may well be true in the case of wild birds, at any rate 

 occasionally. Mr. H. Eliot Howard showed, long since, in the case of 



1 Avicultural Magazine, 1911, p. 300. 

 VOL. IV. 2F 



