Cn 
'ip. Xiy. 
LENGTH OP COURTSHIP. 
101 
ara dis e congregate. In this latter case it is not ex- 
b 8s v stated that the females meet on the same trees, 
hunters, ^ not specially asked, would not pro- 
l e8s mention their presence, as their skins are value- 
d-gate, during the breeding-season, and perform for 
g 0 i* lileir graceful evolutions. Large numbers of the 
^“fy snipe ( Scolopax major) assemble during the 
♦i.„ ' 111 a morass ; and the same place is frequented for 
le sa 
^ a y h 
Affine 
htt, 
Small parties of an African weaver ( Ploceus ) con- 
Scl me purpose during successive years; here they 
e seen running about “ like so many large rats, 
s out their feathers, flapping their wings 
and 
tke strangest cries . 2 
b °me of 
capercailzie, pheasant-grouse, the rutt, the 
bl a !? me of the above-mentioned birds, namely, the 
B^'Cock. 
^i'tar 
b, 
'rive ^ l0,1 gbt that the stronger males would simply 
tat- c riVea away the weaker, and then at once have 
polygamists. With such birds it might have 
bei iev y Sn ipe, and perhaps some others, are, as it is 
the 
dri' 
it | 0e . Possession of as many females as possible ; but if 
t ei) . .^‘dispensable for the male to excite or please the 
’ '"e can understand the length of the courtship 
Sc,*-. Je congregation of so many individuals of both 
8 at the 
<%al e 
% 
LU o same spot. Certain species which are 
ibi N ,‘ V m ° n ogamous likewise hold nuptial assemblages ; 
tb, 
Sfcerns to be the ease in Scandinavia with one of 
of jj? ari m'gans, and their leks last from the middle 
b | t(1 are ' i to the middle of May. In Australia the lyre- 
01 ^lenura superba forms “ small round hillocks,” 
to the assemblages of the above named grouse see 
’ > aieilebeHj' B. iv. s. 350; also L. Lloyd, ‘Game Birds of 
P. 3 C2 1 1867, p. i 9i 78i Richardson, ‘ Fauna Bor. Americana,’ Birds, 
, « eT ’°Usl . e t L ‘ re nces in regard to the assemblages of other birds have 
a kat, jr. e , en given. On Paradisea see Wallace, in ‘ Annals and Mag. 
lst -’ vol. xx. 1857, p. 412. On the snipe, Lloyd, ibid. p. 221. 
