The Courtship of Animals

by W. P. Pycraft

It is curious that a near relative of this bird, the Great Australian Bustard (Eupodotis australis), also captures the wind to declare his love; but it is disposed of after a quite different fashion, being drawn into the gullet, though the precise manner in which it is manipulated demands further investigation. The display Dr. Murie described many years ago. It begins, he tells us, with a swelling of the throat, while the head is thrown upwards. Immediately after, the neck swells, and the feathers of the lower part of the neck, set all on end, are carried downwards, apparently surrounding a huge bag which reaches nearly to the ground. During all this time the head and neck are held rigid and point skywards, the head surmounting a great feathery column. Meanwhile the tail, as with the Great Bustard, is drawn forwards over the back. In this peculiar attitude the bird struts about in a stiff, waddling manner, the elongated neck-bag swaying to and fro and the feathers of the throat standing out in the shape of a great rounded swelling. The acme of inspiratory effort completed, the bird begins to snap the jaws together, producing loud noises, which are accompanied by a soft dove-like cooing.

The Pectoral Sandpiper in like manner inflates its gullet. But, unlike the Pigeon and the bird just described, the neck is not markedly straightened, nor is the body raised. As the air is drawn in, the gullet expands, till it forms a great spherical drum. Then the excited performer runs along the ground uttering a resonant “too-u tooo-u” repeated seven or eight times in rapid succession, all the while he approaches nearer to the apparently very much-otherwise-engaged female. This effort failing, he will then often rise on quivering wings twenty or thirty feet into the air, and dive gracefully down again immediately afterwards, deflating this curious balloon to await a more favourable opportunity.

In some species where wind-bags are employed as aphrodisiacs the outer skin is brilliantly coloured and exposed during the display. The Prairie-hen affords a case in point. In this species the air-chamber is furnished, not by the gullet, but by the air-sacs of the neck. When these are inflated they appear as two large orange-coloured bodies standing boldly out among the feathers. Their effect is heightened by a tuft of long stiff feathers which are thrust forward like a pair of horns, on each side of the head, while at the same time the feathers of the back are set on end, the tail is spread like a great fan, and the wings are half opened and trailed like those of the Turkey.

The displays take place in the early hours of the morning, when parties of from a dozen to fifty, of both sexes, meet on some slight knolls where the grass is short. Having duly assembled, the more ardent cocks immediately begin to prepare for the morning revels, the first part of the performance apparently being of a comparatively passive nature—the parade of the air-sacs and the erection of the feathers.

Then some “proud cock, in order to complete his triumph, will rush forward at his best speed ... through the midst of the love-sick damsels, pouring out as he goes a booming noise ... which may be heard for at least two miles in the morning air. This sound is by no means harsh or unpleasant. When standing in the open prairie at early dawn listening to hundreds of different voices pitched in different keys, coming from every direction and from various distances, the listener is rather soothed than excited.

“Every few minutes this display is repeated. I have seen not only one, but more than twenty cocks going through this funny operation at once; but then they seem careful not to run against each other, for they have not yet got to the fighting point. After a little while the lady birds begin to show an interest in the proceedings by moving about quickly, a few yards at a time, and then standing still a short time.

“The party breaks up when the sun is half an hour high, to be repeated the next morning, and every morning for a week or two before all make satisfactory matches. It is towards the latter part of the love-season that the fighting takes place among the cocks, probably by two who have fallen in love with the same sweetheart....”

There is much that is extremely interesting in this account and a little that seems to have been misinterpreted. The fact that these antics are repeated during many days until at last the females are moved to display some interest is just what we should expect if this demonstrative behaviour on the part of the males acts, as we believe, as an aphrodisiac. And that actual fighting occurs is highly probable, but there can be no doubt that in such case the whole aspect of the bird must be changed, for anything in the nature of fighting with the delicate air-sacs inflated would greatly endanger the most important aid to success in achieving this object which these birds possess.

Plate 20.