406 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and domestic life of birds, which, with some others that I have 

 on authority, seem to me to point to the conclusion that the said 

 instincts, as set forth in the title of this paper, have been so 

 evolved. These facts may be summarised under the following 

 headings (where not otherwise indicated, the references are to 

 my own observations) : 



(1) The picking up and letting fall again, or placing in such 

 a spot as is commonly chosen for the nest, of materials used in 

 making the nest, by the male bird, together with other more or 

 less marked actions, or as part of a general behaviour, due to 

 sexual excitement ; this either in the presence or absence of the 

 female, during the earlier part of the breeding season, before the 

 actual nest has been begun or even the actual mating settled.* 



(2) The further fact that as a result of such sexual actions, as 

 a whole, or of some of them, something more or less closely re- 

 sembling the nest of the species is actually made by the male 

 bird.t 



(3) The participation of the female in these and other sexual 

 actions and movements of the male, inclusive of the true courting 

 display, into which they gradually pass. I 



* ' Bird Watching,' pp. 71-2. ' Zoologist,' April, 1902, pp. 135-7, 142-8. 

 ' The British Warblers,' H. E. Howard, vol. i, 2, pp. 6-7, with plate facing 

 p. 6 ; 4, p. 9, with plate facing p. 9 ; 5, p. 10 : vol. ii, 23, p. 8, with plates 

 facing pp. 10 and 12 ; 25, pp. 13, 14, with plate facing p. 11 ; 26, p. 5, with 

 plate facing p. 4 ; 20, p. 41. 



f ' Zoologist,' April, 1902, pp. 13S-9. " Birds of the Breck," W. Farren, 

 and "The Woodlark in East Berks," E. E. Pettitt, in ' Wild Life,' June, 

 1915, pp. 164, 170. As more recently observed by me, the circular depression 

 in the ground made by the male Peewit is sometimes lined. 



I ' Zoologist,' April, 1902, pp. 136-7 ; May, 1902, pp. 196-7 ; September, 

 1901, pp. 343-4 ; May, 1907, pp. 168, 169 ; May, 1912, pp. 179-80 ; June, 

 1912, p. 213 ; February, 1914, pp. 63, 66. ' Wild Life,' March, 1914, p. 143; 

 April, 1914, pp. 206-7, 209-11 ; May, 1915, pp. 151-2 ; February, 1916, pp. 51* 

 53-4. ' Bird Watching,' pp. 18-20, 42-3. ' Bird Life Gleanings,' pp. 164-6, 

 288, 'The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands,' pp. 125-31. 'The British 

 Warblers' (H. E. Howard), vol. i, 5, pp. 8, 10, with plate facing p. 10 ; 12, 

 pp. 17, 18, with plate facing p. 30 ; 14, p. 17, with plate facing p. 16 ; 15, 

 pp. 13, 14, with plate facing p. 12 : vol. ii, 21, pp. 85-6, with plates facing 

 pp. 32, 84; 25, plate facing p. 18; 26, p. 5, with plate facing p. 6. The 

 'Scottish Naturalist' ("The Display of the Mallard," S. E. Brock), April,. 

 1914, pp. 79-80. The list includes 23 species, representative of 8 orders, 

 5 sub-orders, and 14 families. 



