HABITS OF THE GREAT CRESTED GREEK. 181 



ately after he has done so, ascends the nest, and lies along it in 

 the usual manner. The male ascends as before, and it would 

 seem that this time the pairing is accomplished. I, however, 

 only judge so by the subsequent behaviour of the two birds, 

 which bas that satisfied appearance as of something successfully 

 accomplished, which all who have watched birds will know. The 

 time occupied was extremely short, and one would hardly have 

 thought from the position of the two birds that actual pairing 

 had been possible. 



It will thus be seen, that before each of these pairings or 

 attempts to pair, the male Grebe assumed the posture proper to 

 the female on such occasions, and the first time actually went on 

 to the nest in order to do so, that being, it woald seem, the 

 chosen spot for the performance of the nuptial rite. Except for 

 this, and to take his share in incubation, I have not seen the 

 male bird (nor, for that matter, the female either) ascend the 

 nest ; neither would one expect him to do so, as the birds do not 

 ascend to build or shape it, and also he makes himself a special 

 platform. I therefore attribute his doing so, as also the con- 

 comitant actions, to a peculiar, and, as we would call it, per- 

 verted sexual activity, in which, moreover, the female shared. 

 I should say that during the last pairing the cries of the birds — 

 for they were evidently uttered by both of them — were louder 

 and more pronounced than before, and also of two kinds. 

 The first and loudest note uttered was sharp and shrill in quality, 

 approaching to a kind of screaming. The other I cannot now 

 distinctly recall. 



Now, with regard to the curious apparent change of sex in 

 these two Grebes, I here recall what I have observed in the case of 

 a pair of dovecot Pigeons, viz. that, immediately after the ordinarj^ 

 pairing of the birds, the male would crouch to the female, 

 who then performed, apparently, the office of the male ; so that 

 anyone seeing the two, and unacquainted with such possibilities, 

 would have sworn absolutely that the female bird was the male, 

 and vice versa. Should this appear incredible to some, I can 

 only saj' that I saw it take place right in front of me, not once 

 merely, but several times, and at no more than a step or two's 

 distance — in fact, under such circumstances as eliminated the 

 possibility of mal-observation. 



