10 BEHAVIOK OP PIGEONS. 



generate the impulse to sit. This impulse naturally follows the period of sexual activity, 

 and he was still in the latter period. 



In a brief note under the heading of "Sexual periodicity," it is remarked that "this 

 (sexual periodicity) is apparent especially in Australian pigeons speckled-necks, geo- 

 pelias, crested pigeons, etc. It is also marked in Ectopistes. The wood-pigeon and mourn- 

 ing-dove are good examples." 1 (R 20, C 7/15.) 



MANNER OF DISPLAY. 



The crested pigeon (Ocyphaps) has a very striking mode of display. The tail is raised 

 and spread, and at the same time the wings are lifted just enough to show the whole 

 surface. The bird bows and coos and strikes its feet, and all these movements are rhyth- 

 mically combined in a very effective way. I noticed one of the Geopelia humeralis also 

 performing by quite the same combination of movements. One of the Geopelia striata 

 has exhibited itself in the same way, and with a peculiar coo. It is remarkable that two 

 genera so different as Ocyphaps and Geopelia should have the same peculiar manners. 



Darwin had a red tumbler which had a coo like the "laughter," and "the habit, to 

 a degree which I never saw equalled in any other pigeon, of often walking with its wings 

 raised and arched in an elegant manner." (See Darwin, Animals and Plants, I, Chapter 

 V, p. 198.) I have seen this in a white fantail and in a black tumbler (Japanese), and 

 also in a white and crested male dove-cote pigeon. It is quite common behavior. It is 

 done usually when a male sees a female or a male whose attention he wishes to attract. 



In giving the "coo" to the female, the male(7. humeralis bows and follows the female 

 with the tail raised to about 45 degrees or a little more, or nearly vertical, and spread, so as to 

 show it to the best advantage. He uses it in the same way when trying to drive another 

 cock. So the same behavior serves at least two purposes one to frighten and the other 

 to display. 



I saw this display first in the male bronze-wing. This male was on the ground; the 

 female was on the step-ladder looking down, as if about to fly down to the male. He 

 noted this and began to display as if to attract her. He faced her, held his head on a line 

 with his body, raised the wings without spreading or only a very little; raised his tail 

 a little and held it spread; and meanwhile he stood actually on tip-toes and lifted first one 

 and then the other foot, and so raised one side of the body and then the other in a way to 

 exhibit his iridescence in different lights. This performance is remarkable so well adapted 

 to the end it serves. As the male wags his whole body slowly from side to side, he moves 

 his head and neck back and forth from side to side. The lifting of the foot with the side 

 raised, and then the other foot and side, right and left alternately, is done with an exquis- 

 ite lightness of foot, as if the bird were overflowing with delight at the approach or the 

 prospect of approach of his mate. I have seen this done by three males within a week or 

 two, and by one of them several times. 



A male mourning-dove (11) walks slowly and grandly along the perch, displaying 

 himself to the female. She does not at once respond. He is anxious to mate, and shows no 

 disposition to be aggressive, or to force her in any way. He sits at a little distance, watches 

 her, now and then wags his wing at her, preens his feathers, inviting her to him. When 

 he walks back and forth he raises the feathers of his back and rump, swells up his neck, 

 and makes himself generally attractive. In strutting the wings droop a little, the prima- 

 ries being held a little lower and not quite so tightly closed as ordinarily. The feathers 

 of the back project backwards, rising above the level of the wing-feathers. The male 

 sometimes flies to a point nearer the female, and as he alights strikes his feet against the 

 perch, spreads his tail, and raises his wings a little, so as to show them and the tail at the 



1 For sexual periodicity in man, see Loisel, Comptes llendus, Oct. 29, 1900. 



