1 94 General Notes. \_t^^\ 



Revival of the Sexual Passion in Birds in Autumn. — Under the above 

 heading two short notes have ah-eady appeared in ' The Auk,' for January, 

 1886. The first (pp. 141, 142) is by Bradford Tori-ey who, on October 12, 

 18S5, saw a pair of Bluebirds " toying with each other affectionately " and 

 "once certainly .... in the attitude, if not in the act, of copulation," and 

 he queries whether this may not account for the second period of song 

 which many birds have. The other note (p. 286) is from Charles Keeler 

 Avho noticed similar actions among some English Sparrows, which, in 

 November and December, 1885, were even engaged in nest-building, the 

 weather at the time being very mild. 



To these observations it seems worth while to add the following 

 account of an experience which I had at Lakeside, Coos County, New 

 Hampshire (at the southern end of Lake Umbagog), a little more than a 

 year ago. I quote from my journal of August 22, 1896. 



At about sunrise this morning there were fully three hundred and fifty 

 Swallows strung along on the wires of the fence in front of the hotel. 

 I watched this flock for more than an hour (7 to 8 A. m.) and was amply 

 repaid for the trouble. There had been a: heavy rain during the night 

 and the road was very muddy. The birds alighted about the edges of one 

 of the larger puddles in great numbers and walked slowly about fluttering 

 or quivering their half-opened wings like so many big butterflies. At 

 first I supposed that they were drinking or picking up insects, but what 

 was my astonishment to find that the Eave Swallows were filling their 

 bills with mud, and the White-bellied and Bank Swallows gathering 

 pieces of hay or straw. The Barn Swallows did not visit the pool in any 

 numbers, and I did not happen to see them pick up anything. Each bird, 

 on obtaining a satisfactory load of mud or grass, flew with it to the fence 

 and after shifting it about in its bill for a few moments, finally dropped 

 it and at once returned to the road for a fresh supply. From fifty to a 

 hundred Swallows were thus constantly engaged for half-an-hour or 

 more. Not one of them took its burden elsewhere than to the wire fence 

 or retained it for more than two or three minutes after reaching its perch. 

 What did it all mean.'' Two facts which remain to be recorded will, 

 perhaps, explain. 



The first is that, while the birds were clustered about the mud-puddle, 

 scarce a minute passed when one or two pairs were not engaged in copu- 

 lation. Perhaps I should say in attempted, rather than actual, copulation 

 for, as nearly as I could see, the sexual commerce was in no instance 

 fully and successfully accomplished. The females (or at least the birds 

 that acted that part) submitted willingly enough to, and in some 

 instances, as I thought, actually solicited, the attentions of the males ; 

 the latter, however, displayed but mild sexual ardor and were very 

 clumsy in their attempts at indulging it. Once I saw an Eave Swallow 

 and a White-bellied Swallow in sexual contact. 



The second fact apparently supplies the key to the whole mystery. It 

 is simply that every one of the Swallows which visited the mud-puddle 



