CHAPTER X 



THE RELATIONS OF THE SEXES 



The division of labour in nest-building. Manifestations of sexual activity. 

 Forms of this activity. Plumage displays. " S^caleli." Wind-bags and display. 

 Tournaments. Weapons and their uses. Dancing. "Gardening." Song. 

 Instrumental music. Where the sex role is reversed. 



THE high degree of individuality which birds, in common 

 with the rest of the higher animals, have attained, has 

 rendered them independent of one another to a very- 

 large extent. 



Combinations of individuals each with a limited role to play, 

 such as is met with among the lower and less intelligent animals, 

 have passed away, and individualism with its greater responsi- 

 bilities and greater possibilities has asserted itself. 



But in studying the relations of the sexes it will be found 

 that the principle of division of labour has to a limited extent 

 been revived. Thus in the work of nest-building, of the incuba- 

 tion of the eggs, and of the feeding of the young, the two sexes 

 often take equal shares, though in a very large number of in- 

 stances the whole of these labours are undertaken entirely by 

 the female, and in a few striking exceptions by the male alone. 

 This phase of bird-life, however, will be dealt with in the next 

 chapter. Here it is proposed to review a very different aspect 

 of this matter of the relations of the sexes. In short, we shall 

 survey, as briefly as may be, some of the more remarkable of 

 the facts which have been collected relating to that stormy 

 period of life during which the fateful choice of mates takes 

 place. 



In some species this choice is accompanied by most extra- 

 ordinary behaviour, and in all peculiarities of conduct are to 

 be remarked, which for the rest of the year are dormant. The 

 mass of facts which have been accumulated on this theme is 

 bewildering, the more so since the most conflicting theories 



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