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AN OBSERVATIONAL DIARY OF THE HABITS— 

 MOSTLY DOMESTIC— OF THE GREAT CRESTED 

 GREBE (PODICIPES GBISTATUS), AND OF THE 

 PEEWIT (VANELLUS VULGARIS), WITH SOME 

 GENERAL REMARKS. 



By Edmund Selous. 



(Concluded from vol. v. p. 462.) 



Coming, now, to my observations on the Peewit (which have, 

 as I suppose, a bearing upon the foregoing remarks), I will pre- 

 mise by saying that anyone who watches these birds during the 

 early spring will see them going through some curious actions on 

 the ground, which I term " rolling," for want of a better word. 

 A bird thus acting presses its breast into the soil, and, by moving 

 from side to side, or turning upon it a little as on a pivot,, makes a 

 round cup of just such a nature as — lined with grass or lichen — 

 the eggs, when found, are seen to repose in. Of this fact, and 

 also that many such cups are made by the same bird — who is, in 

 fact, always thus acting — keepers, or some of them, are aware. 

 Whether anybody else is, I do not know, but I have never in any 

 ornithological work, learned or popular, met with any kind of 

 reference to this habit, which may yet, as I believe, throw light 

 upon the origin of nest-building. What is this rolling ? What 

 is its essential character and meaning ? I can only quote 

 from my notes which were taken at the time, and so, at least, 

 give a minute, and, I trust, accurate description of what I 

 actually saw. 



March 8th. — A Peewit rolling, his breast on the ground, his 

 tail up and moving from side to side in a manner suggestive of 

 the generative organs being in activity. But neither this nor 

 the actual roll is so pronounced as I have seen it. Having acted 

 thus for a short while, he rises and runs forward in a series of 

 very short little precise steps, which have a peculiar character 

 about them. His whole pose and attitude is, also, peculiar. 



