GREAT CRESTED-GREBE 425 



the weed. Still approaching, the birds eventually touched each other 

 with their breasts, and now, each as it were supporting the other, by 

 rapidly treading the water they swayed their bodies from side to side 

 in a sort of ecstasy, and all the while shaking their heads at one 

 another. Then they gradually settled down into the normal swimming 

 pose, but still kept up the head-shaking. But by this time the weed 

 had been dropped. Then they drifted apart, and began feeding. 



The fact that all these elaborate displays were long antecedent to 

 the act of pairing, which was unaccompanied by any striking movements, 

 is very remarkable. But the antics which have just been described 

 were evidently excitants to the final act. The course of true love, 

 even with grebes, does not seem always to run smoothly. At any 

 rate, Mr. Selous on one occasion saw one grebe attack another by 

 diving and spearing his adversary from below, evidently inflicting a 

 sharp stab. But whether these two were rival males or rival females 

 he does not say, and no other similar records seem to have been made 

 which would throw light on the mystery. 



Mr. Huxley's notes on this aspect of the grebe's life-history, while 

 confirming those of Mr. Selous, also amplify them. But Mr. Selous 

 seems to have witnessed some quite extraordinary behaviour in regard 

 to the act of pairing on the part of the owners of a nest he had under 

 observation, inasmuch as on more than one occasion the role of the 

 sexes was reversed. After this pantomime, both would leave the nest 

 and start feeding, and sometimes the female would return, when 

 pairing would be duly performed. It would seem that the behaviour 

 of the male was calculated to arouse response in the female. Both 

 observers agree that coition never takes place save on the nest. 1 



Both birds seem to take part in the actual construction of the 

 nest, which is commonly a sort of floating raft securely anchored. 

 All the materials of which it is composed seem to be brought from 

 the bottom of the water. Mr. Selous counted as many as one hundred 



1 For further particulars see E. Selous, Zoologist, 1901, p. 105 ; and Mr. Leonard Huxley's 

 forthcoming work. 



