24 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. I49 



feet above her, then flew straight down on to her back. She went into 

 a Bill-up Tail-up Posture just before he landed. Her wings were 

 stretched out horizontally at the same time but they were not 

 Quivered. The male began copulatory movements as soon as he 

 landed. These seemed to be essentially identical with those of 

 related species. The copulation itself was brief. As soon as he finished 

 the male flew away and disappeared from view. The female remained 

 in the Bill-up Tail-up Posture for some seconds afterwards. She also 

 kept her wings out horizontally and performed two or three "spas- 

 modic" bursts of very rapid Wing-quivering (definitely separated by 

 brief periods in which the wings were held quite motionless). Then 

 she gradually relaxed and assumed an unritualized posture. As far as 

 I could tell both birds were absolutely silent throughout the whole 

 performance. The other copulation began when the male flew straight 

 on to the female's back without any preliminary perching near her. 

 He uttered one Muffled Rattle in flight. The female went into a Bill-up 

 Tail-up Posture as he approached. Her head and bill were pointed 

 nearly vertically upward while her tail was raised diagonally. The 

 feathers of her breast and belly were ruffled, but much less so than in 

 the homologous postures of many related species. She spread her 

 wings out horizontally but did not Quiver them. The male began 

 copulatory movements as soon as he landed, and the copulation 

 itself was almost as brief as the one described above. After dismount- 

 ing the male perched right beside the female with his body parallel 

 to hers and facing in the same direction. She remained in a Bill-up 

 Tail-up Posture with her wings held out motionless. He also assumed 

 a Bill-up Tail-up Posture (with Crown-flattening). His posture is 

 illustrated in figure 2d. His wings were not stretched out horizontally. 

 They were folded on his back, but one was held much higher than the 

 other. As a result his yellow rump was revealed quite conspicuously 

 on the side on which the wing was high. This was the side nearest 

 the female. After a few seconds the male flew away. The female 

 immediately came out of her Bill-up Tail-up Posture, but she kept 

 her wings out horizontally. Then she performed three spasmodic 

 bursts of Wing-quivering as she gradually lowered her wings (with- 

 out folding them). Then she flew to another perch a few feet away. 

 There she performed several more bursts of Wing-quivering while her 

 wings were still drooped. Then she relaxed. 



Two of the display patterns associated with copulations are of some 

 comparative interest. The holding of the wings in an asymmetrical 

 position after copulation may be related to the asymmetrical raising 



