Courtship 



display. While giving his acrobatic display he sings the 

 whole time, but never shows his side plumes, and when he 

 is in the pendulous position his body sways gently as if it 

 were influenced by a fitful breeze. The whole of this per- 

 formance takes but a very few seconds." 



From the bejewelled king bird of paradise to the rela- 

 tively sombre great crested grebe is a far cry as far as 

 appearance is concerned. The male king bird performs 

 his strange rites to attract his mate ; both male and 

 female grebe take part in the eccentricities of love-making. 

 Many years ago we remember witnessing this avian 

 pantomime of the grebes, on a Midland mere. At that 

 time we did not fully understand the purport of the birds' 

 behaviour. The male and female grebe are as similar in 

 appearance as the proverbial two peas. Their necks are 

 ornamented with a light brown ruff and their heads with 

 darker brown feathers of such a nature as to give them 

 the appearance of being eared ; their breasts are snowy 

 white. 



At the time of courting, when the grebes, maybe, are 

 quietly feeding on some secluded waterway, a pair will 

 suddenly face one another and begin wagging their heads 

 from side to side. After a moment or two of this pantomime 

 the male bird dives, but his mate still wags her head. 

 Her companion then rises slowly and gently from the 

 water in front of her. At first only his head appears 

 above the water level, but by degrees his back, his body, 

 all of him in fact, is displayed to the admiring gaze of his 

 spouse; a few more head-waggings and courtship gives 

 place to the more material business of seeking food. At 

 times this strange procedure is varied by antics more 

 extraordinary. As usual, the head-wagging preliminaries 

 are indulged in, then both birds dive and remain below 

 water for a short time, eventually coming to the surface 

 some distance apart, when they contrive to lie almost 

 prone upon the water. Next they travel rapidly towards 

 one another, and when they have almost collided both 



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