A LABRADOR SPRING 
close to the water, but lifted up vertically from 
time to time in the courting manner, and she 
soon joined her mate. 
The display of the brilliant orange legs and 
feet by the males is particularly interesting. 
These members in the female are pale yellow 
in colour, and it may be supposed that the males 
have attained the more attractive orange as a 
result of sexual selection. They certainly make 
good use of this brilliant colour in the courtship 
display, for the flash of the orange feet con- 
trasting with the snowy flanks of the bird and 
the dark water is extremely effective, and 
noticeable even at a considerable distance. In 
this connection it is interesting to note that the 
legs and feet of both male and female Barrow’s 
golden-eye are alike pale yellow. I am not 
familiar with the courtship of this bird, and as 
far as I know it has never been described, 
but I think it is reasonable to infer that the 
display of the legs, as in the American golden- 
eye, is mot a part of the performance. As 
the Barrow’s golden-eye lacks the peculiar 
localized swelling of the lower wind-pipe found 
in the other species, one might suppose that 
the musical part of the performance was also 
94 
