THE ZOOLOGIST 



No. 905.— November 15th, 1916. 



ON THE SEXUAL ORIGIN OF THE NIDIFICATORY, 

 INCUBATORY, AND COURTING DISPLAY IN- 

 STINCTS IN BIRDS : AN ANSWER TO CRITICISM. 



By Edmund Selous. 



The ' Zoologist ' for June of last 3'ear contains a contribution 

 — viz. "Notes on the Courtship of the Lapwing" — by Miss 

 Maud D. Haviland, which I did not read till a long time after it 

 had appeared. In it the writer comments, forgetfully, on some 

 observations made by myself on these same activities, which 

 were also published in the ' Zoologist ' fifteen (not " ten ") years 

 before the above-mentioned date, and also criticises certain 

 suggestions made by me in explanation of actions the true nature 

 of which had not been, up till then, and is not, I think, now 

 fully realised, but which of itself, as it were, and automatically, 

 throws new, or rather, perhaps, the first light on the origin of 

 courting display in birds. This part of the subject, however, I 

 must perforce neglect, owing to the small space at my disposal. 

 What I shall have to say will relate principally to the first, and, 

 in a fair degree, also, to the second, of the three instincts 

 specified in the title. On p. 220 of the paper referred to Miss 

 Haviland thus comments on my note on the "rolling," as I 

 have called it, of the female, as well as the male Peewit : — " If 

 his discrimination" (of the sexes) "is correct (and Mr. Selous 

 will pardon any implied doubt) his record is of much interest.' 

 I can resolve all reasonable doubt, as follows : My attention 

 Zool. 4th ser., vol. XX., November, 1916. ii 



