258 Wonders of the Bird World 



upon the spot whence they jumped. The time was as 

 regular as clock-work, one bird jumping up the instant the 

 other alighted, each bird accompanying himself to the 

 tune of To-lc-do — to-lc-do — to-ld-do, sounding the syllable 

 to as he crouched to spring, le while in the air, and 

 do as he alighted. This performance was kept up with- 

 out intermission for more than a minute, when the birds 

 suddenly discovered that they had an audience, and 

 made off" 



Many sober-minded birds go through a ridiculous 

 pantomime during the courting season, and no one would 

 have suspected an apparently phlegmatic species like the 

 Albatross to indulge in antics, yet Mr. Palmer says that, 

 when he was in the island of Laysan in the Pacific Ocean, 

 he saw the birds make love in the following manner — • 

 " First they stand face to face, then they begin nodding 

 and bowing vigorously, then rub their bills together with 

 a whistling cry. After this they begin shaking their heads 

 and snapping their bills with marvellous rapidity, occasion- 

 ally lifting one wing, straightening themselves out, and 

 blowing out their breasts ; then they put their bill under the 

 wing or toss it in the air with a groaning scream, and 

 walk round each other, often for fifteen minutes at a time." ^ 

 The same observer also states that the red-tailed Tropic 

 Bird (Phaeton riibricanda), a species which lays its eggs in 

 holes, and flies through the air as if it was trying to imitate 

 an express train, accompanies its love-making with some 

 curious evolutions. As the male approaches the female, he 

 swings his tail, which has the centre feathers elongated and 

 of a red colour, from side to side and up and down, almost 

 doubling it up under him, and this is continued for some 

 time. 



' Rothschild, ' Avifauna of Laysan,' p. 57. 



