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OBSERVATIONS TENDING to THROW LIGHT on the 

 QUESTION of SEXUAL SELECTION in BIRDS, IN- 

 CLUDING a DAY-TO-DAY DIARY on the BREEDING 

 HABITS of the RUFF (MACHETES PUG N AX). 



By Edmund Selous. 



(Concluded from p. 182.) 



April 30th, 1906. — In the course of this record I have more 

 than once had occasion to mention a certain bird of very dis- 

 tinctive appearance who seemed to have no settled abiding-place 

 of his own, and was constantly getting into the way of other male 

 birds by lying crouched in their particular quarters, from which, 

 when occupied with the Reeves, they endeavoured, by frantic 

 peckings and draggings — but by no means always successfully — 

 to expel him. An incident witnessed by me on the morning of 

 the above date, and several times repeated, throws a new and 

 unexpected light on the significance of this bird's behaviour, but, 

 in regard to it, I shall only here say that in its essential nature 

 it somewhat resembled one which will be well known to students 

 of ant-life, the theft, namely, habitual and premeditated by a 

 certain parasitical or " guest " insect, living in the nest, of a 

 drop of honey which is in the act of being given by one ant to 

 another. Passing to the afternoon, there was considerable fight- 

 ing between several Ruffs on one side of the ground for the favours 

 of some Reeves who had repaired there. Two of these birds 

 were successful in their pretensions, but it did not appear to me 

 that their success was due to superior prowess on their part, for, 

 in this respect, all seemed much alike. Simply the Ruffs fought 

 and the Reeves chose, but the general result of the commotion 

 and storm was to bring nuptial matters to an end in this quarter, 

 the Reeves going over to the brown bird, who stood on the oppo- 

 site side of the gathering-ground, with whom they likewise entered 

 into conjugal relations. In this, I speak of the Reeves as a body, 



