COURTSHIP IN BIRDS 2^-g 



Courtship means the act of wooing in love. 

 Whatever theory we accept we must admit that 

 the male appears ^ to endeavor to attract the 

 female in one or all of three ways : first by a dis- 

 play of bright or striking colors, secondly by 

 postures or movements which accentuate this dis- 

 play or call attention to his agility or skill — in 

 other words by the dance in its broadest sense, 

 — and thirdly by sounds either vocal or instru- 

 mental — song in its broadest sense. 



The classical courtship of the peacock illus- 

 trates in an extreme form the display of color. 

 It also includes two other factors of dance and 

 song. It may well be sketched here as an ex- 

 aggerated form and epitome of our subject. 



In the presence of the hen and when in an 

 amorous mood the peacock erects the stiff tail 

 feathers which support the marvelous plumes that 



1 The fact that peacocks and turkey cocks delight in display- 

 ing their charms before people would seem to show that they 

 are conscious of the beauty of their plumage and vain of 

 their ability to show it off. When they are displaying before 

 their hens, they must, in the same way, be conscious of their 

 beauty. In other words, is there not as much reason in what 

 they do as in the strutting of the painted and befeathered 

 savage? Are their actions merely mechanical and instinctive? 

 I do not think so. 



