302 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



courted in the usual way and dropped into one of his scrapes at 

 a little distance, the female gradually approaches the latter spot 

 by short and indirect stages. On her arrival the male rises 

 from the scrape and takes a step forward, adopting as he does so 

 a curious and striking pose. Keeping his back turned towards 

 the hen, now very close beside him, he slowly lowers his bill to 

 the ground and raises his tail almost perpendicularly in the air, 

 his richly coloured under tail-coverts thus prominently dis- 

 played. The female now settles in the scrape, and goes through 

 the usual actions of the cock when in that position, working 

 with feet and body, the tail depressed at intervals in spasmodic 

 fashion ; but at first her motions are more leisurely, and lack 

 the intense energy of the male. Several minutes may be passed 

 by her either in the prosecution of these activities, or in sitting 

 quietly in the scrape. During this interval the male retains 

 his remarkable uptilted attitude, standing a yard or so in front 

 of his mate, employing himself in the collection of nest-material, 

 which is jerked backwards over the shoulder in the direction of 

 the scrape. When the female later quits the scrape, moving off 

 leisurely a short distance, the male usually returns to it and 

 renews his previous labours. At times the hen, fails to respond to 

 this second invitation, but she may, on the other hand, once more 

 approach the scrape, when the former scene is again enacted. 



It is somewhat curious to note how the male, on all such occa- 

 sions, or when scraping near a female, takes pains to maintain his 

 back to the view of his prospective mate, and that this position 

 is not mere accident is shown by his occasional scraping or 

 standing in such an attitude with his back to a strong breeze — 

 a position of discomfort avoided by all birds under normal 

 circumstances. 



Such a scene as this, of male and female working in turn in 

 the same scrape, may take place with the same pair of birds at 

 not infrequent intervals during a single day, and it is nearly 

 always terminated for the time being by the retiral or loss of 

 interest of the female. On the lapse of a day or two thus 

 spent the scraping antics become less frequent, and the two 

 birds are content to remain quietly in each other's company, 

 usually at no great distance from the scrapes. For frequent 

 short intervals both may disappear to feed on some recently 



