igi


ON THE COURTING POSTURES OF CERTAIN


DOVES.

By A. G. Butler, Ph. D.


The facts which I propose to record here are probably not

new to many of our members ; but circumstances have proved

to me that they are not so thoroughly well known to all bird-

students as to be valueless.


It is generally admitted that where a male bird possesses-

brilliant colours in any part of its plumage, it alwa5^s makes the

most of them when approaching its mate. In many of the

CohtmbcE the most telling arrangement of colours is to be found

on the nape, mantle, and in the open tail : it is therefore not

surprising that the species of Turhcr and Geopelia bow almost to

the ground, at the same time drooping the wings and raising the

tail fan-wise almost at right angles to the body.


During tlie past winter I lost my male Necklaced Dove

and my female Bar-shouldered Dove. Thinking that I might,

safely pair up the two bereaved birds, I placed them together in

one of my small aviaries, but Geopelia humeralis evidently did.

not admire lurhcr tigrhnts and attacked her so systematically

that when he had half denuded her of feathers, I was compelled to

remove her and purchase a supposed female of his own species : I

fear, however, that I paired up these birds too late or too early,,

for she fared but little better than her predecessor (a).


When I first turned in the ' female ' G. humeralis, the male

began at once to chase her about the aviary : this was followed

by the usual posture of worship. When neither bowing nor

chasing seemed to awake any emotion of pleasure in the heart,

of his partner the male suddenly turned his back upon her, raised,

his head to its highest elevation, spread his tail fanwise so that

it swept the earth and ran forward two or three steps with a short

sharp little gutteral sound, then looked over his shoulder and

repeated the action perhaps a dozen times. His rage when she

ignored all his efforts was unbounded and he then commenced a

system of tyrannous persecution, varied with occasional fondlings,

which bade fair to reduce her to a scarecrow. However, it is

evident that G. hiirneralis has two very distindt methods of

showing off to its hen ; which was a new fact to me.


In the Australian Crested Dove ( Ocyphaps lophotesj the


(rt) I finally discovered that the bird was only a small cock of the same species, and.

had to separate them.— A. G. B.



