jA44 MR. J. S. HUXLEY ON THE 
1. April 10. 4.8—4.40 p.m. 
A pair, ¢ and Q easily distinguishable. 
When I first saw them they were indulging in a typical shake 
of moderate length, ended by one turning away from the other. 
After this for about 17 minutes they moved slowly in one direc- 
tion, the hen always leading the way. When not swimming she 
did some fairly vigorous preening. Sometimes she was 30 or 40 
yards ahead of her mate, but malic she got as far away as this, 
she always swam back and joined the ‘cock. (Pleasure merely 
in each other’s presence, and dislike of being separated, 1 
marked in many monogamous birds.) He spent most of ae 
time with his head under his wing, but now and then woke 
up, looked about him, and gave some rapid strokes towards 
the hen ; occasionally he did a ‘Tittle preening. Not only was the 
hen more active and awake than the cock; she was also more 
emotionally inclined. She kept on coming close up to him and 
shaking her head slightly, trying obviously to stimulate him to 
respond. The first time she did this (4. 13) the cock just raised 
his head from under his wing, gave a couple of scarcely-visible 
shakes, without extending his neck, and relapsed into somnolence ; 
while to her later advances he responded not at all. She was 
very restless ; would swim up, give two or three shakes, swim a 
few yards off, turn, come back, swim off again, and so on, maybe 
three or four times in quick succession, then she would make up 
her mind and swim steadily off, only to come back again after a 
few minutes’ interval. This she did four times. By 4.26, after 
17 minutes of this, she began to think of feeding, for she dived 
twice. Her previous emotional state had, however, not quite 
died down, for she then came back right up to the cock, though 
this time without any actual shaking. At 4.32 she went right 
off, and began fishing a good eighty yards away. At 4.35 she 
caught a big fish, swallowed it, and went on diving. The cock 
meanwhile rested and preened himself, and at 4.40 I lost sight 
of both. 
This well illustrates the way in which the physiological and 
emotional states of individual birds vary from hour to hour. 
That the male was capable of normal excitement is shown by his 
shaking in the usual way at 4.8. This exhausted his emotional 
fires fos the time being, but left the hen still with a good deal of 
pent- up excitement. It seems (as one would expect) to be “no 
fun” to shake all by oneself, and so her potential energy had to 
be released through other channels, giving as a result the quarter 
of an hour’s restlessness. 
At 4.43 a bird which is recorded as “ 3, probably the same as 
that lost sight of at 4.40,” went into the regular Cat-position, 
and its mate appeared in the usual way, rising erect closely from 
below the surface. (Discovery Ceremony.) If they were the 
same pair, it is obvious that the half-hour’s rest had restored to 
the cock all his emotional energy, and the variation in emotional 
states is still more clearly brought out. 
