THE MATING PERIOD. 



25 



bowing. He may keep on with the calling for some time without any bowing movement. 

 When the female comes to the nest he keeps on calling with his head held low, so that no 

 bowing is required. The nest-call is accompanied, not by any appreciable bowing of the 

 head, but by a slow and even up-and-down movement of the wings. This latter is a 

 shoulder movement, the wings being lifted from the sides of the body and wagged up 

 and down simultaneously; or, if in a shorter arc, they are moved out and in. If the female 

 comes near the nest the action is quickened and the calls are more frequent; then, too, 

 the head is held lower and the tail a little higher. The "wing-movements" are those of 

 the young when appealing to the old birds for more food. 



GROUND-CALL OP THE MALE BRONZE-WING. 



In order to get records of the time occupied by the ground-call of the male bronze- 

 wing I placed the two members of a pair in different rooms of my home. The male was 

 placed in a rear room and the female was in a front room. The female answered the calls 

 of the male. His calls were loud and strong and were given with a full neck and a slow 

 bow. My various counts were as follows: 11 calls in 30 seconds; 21 calls in 60 seconds; 

 10 calls in 30 seconds; and 20 calls in 60 seconds. This gives about 3 seconds for a call, 

 1 second of which is the duration of the call and 2 seconds is the interval between calls. 



NEST-CALL OF THE FEMALE BRONZE- WING. 



The rate and duration of the nest-call of the female bronze-wing was recorded for two 

 particular females. In the first case the female had been on the nest for an hour. She was 

 then calling, and her consort was on the floor looking for straws. I found that she some- 

 times gives a single call at intervals of 5, 10, 15, or more seconds; and that she will then 

 begin to call at shorter intervals, for example, two or three times in 5 seconds, 8 times in 

 16 seconds, 4 times in 8 seconds, then skipping over intervals of 5, 10, or more seconds. 

 She repeats the call continuously, when the male goes to the nest, at the rate of about 

 7 times in 10 seconds. Each note is three-fourths of a second in length. It is a single 

 note, a moderately prolonged monotone, with a little vibration in it that is sometimes 

 quite noticeable. 



In the second individual the call was a little less than a second in length. It was 

 repeated frequently while the male was away hunting for straws. The call has a distinct 

 vibration in this female, and it is often a little husky and jarring. The female calls at 

 about the rate of 2 in 4 to 5 seconds or 3 in 7 seconds. Sometimes this goes on for half 

 a minute without particular pause. Sometimes the interval between the calls is only a 

 second, then a second and a fraction, varying from 1 to 2 seconds. The interruptions are 

 from 5 to 30 or more seconds. Some series gave : 



NEST-CALL AND MATING INSTINCT IN THE YOUNG. 



The young of a pair of bronze-wings had been removed to the adjoining half of the 

 cage on the day a first egg was laid. Shortly afterward one of the young, presumably the 

 male, went into his nest-box and began to call and to wave his wings slowly up and down, 

 precisely like an adult male calling the female to the nest. The voice of the young is not 



