Diversions of a NaturalistLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
History
Diversions of a Naturalist
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Natural history
This substitution by man of "extraneous" weapons, decorations, and
alluring appeals to the senses in place of those "intrinsic" to the
animal body is all the more interesting, since we find that such
substitution is already made by a number of birds, as, for instance,
the magpie and the jackdaw, who collect all sorts of bright objects.
The allied bower-bird of Australia makes a "play-run" or reception-room
in which he places shells and bits of bone to attract the female, and
the gardener bird of New Guinea clears a space in the scrub, roughly
fences it and decorates it daily with bright-coloured flowers and
mushrooms, freshly gathered and placed there by him, as any human
bachelor may decorate his sitting-room for the delectation of his
lady friends! It is a very noteworthy fact that these birds, which
use extraneous decorative objects as lures, are themselves of dull
plumage, but are allied to the wonderful group of Birds of Paradise,
which show the greatest variety and brilliance of intrinsic decorative
plumage known among birds. The love of brilliant decoration is equally
keen in both groups, and is gratified in the one case by the use of
extrinsic objects, in the other by the growth of intrinsic plumage. It
appears that that strangely anthropoid bird--the penguin--or rather one
species of penguin, familiar to Captain Scott and his companions in
the Antarctic, has a similar habit of using an extraneous object as a
gift or, shall we say, an excuse for an introduction when courting. The
male penguin is shown in Mr. Poynting's wonderful cinema films of the
Antarctic, picking up a well-shaped stone of some size and advancing
with it in his beak to the lady penguin whom he has selected for his
addresses. He places the stone at her feet, and retires a pace or two
watching her. It is as though he said, "I am ready to build for you a
first-class nest; best stones only used, of which this is a sample."
If he is fortunate she looks at the stone and then at him, and without
a word waddles to his side. Without more ado she accepts his proposal,
and the work of constructing the stone-built nest is rapidly pushed on.
CHAPTER XXII
COURTSHIP AND DISPLAY
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