Edmund Selous

“ Why should the birds, having almost completed one nest, have commenced making another? Let us suppose that, owing to restlessness at the destruction of the first nest, or, again, to what we may call a wandering of the instinct—which last a male bird might be more subject to in nest-building than the female on account of the habit having been more lately acquired by the progenitors of the former than of the latter, and being therefore less fixed—let us suppose that from either of these causes, or from some other cause, the male bird had wandered, and begun to deposit his loads in another place ”

“ On the ground it is much more drawn out, and a sort of long wailing twitter [3] often precedes and leads up to the final wail. In the air it comes as just a wail without this preliminary.
These birds, then, stand or sit about during the afternoon (but from what hour I do not yet know) in their chosen place of assemblage, and if not occupied in catching insects or preening themselves are dull and listless. But as the evening falls, and the air cools, they cast off their lassitude, think of the joys of the night, there is dance and song for a little, and then forth they fly. ”

“ To talk of perversion or vitiation seems to me merely to shirk difficulties, and substitute words for an attempt at a rational explanation. Here are two wild creatures, whose acts must, I think, be assumed to be the outcome of a genuine primary feeling or instinct, unchecked, on the one hand, by any sense of impropriety, and, on the other, unassisted by any pruriency of imagination as we understand it. Each of them acts—and must therefore, also, feel—in turn as the male and female. ”

“ Anyone, I suppose, who has ever read Shakespeare to purpose, must have received the impression that such perfect and consistent organisms, such actual living growths, such vitally informed entities, are beyond the powers of even the keenest observation—that they must have been felt rather than imagined even, and therefore must have belonged to the essential being of the mind from which they emanated. Yet to say that a man can truly and justly feel the feminine nature in its more essential manifestations is to say no less than that he is in his psychology as much a woman as a man ”

“ Some ten or fifteen minutes later (sun now shining through tops of row of tall fir-trees skirting road not far off) a couple of Wood-Pigeons fly over the moor, and the cooing becomes more en évidence. Then, as the sun crests the fir-trees, a Thrush (flying very high for a Thrush) flies over moor. Then seven Wood-Pigeons high in air. Small birds now fly over in numerous little parties, two often chasing each other in joy and sport, as though it were the pairing season. Their twittering is heard about, the earth becomes lightened by the rising sun (now well over firs) , and life really awakes. ”

“ Running forward with wings extended and slightly raised, a bird would suddenly fling them high up, and then, as it were, "pitch" about over the ground, waving and tossing them, stopping short, turning, pitching forward again, leaping into the air, descending and continuing, till with another leap it would make a short eccentric flight low over the ground, and pitch suddenly down in a sharp curve. ”

“ Now here a bird brings to a certain spot, not unlike such a one as the nest is usually built in—approaching to it, at any rate—some of the actual material of which that nest is composed, and I ask if, under the circumstances, it can possibly be supposed that such bird really is building its nest when it does so, in the ordinary purpose-implying sense of the term. As well suppose—so it seems to me—that a man, in the pauses of a fierce sword-and-dagger fight with a rival suitor, should set seriously to work house-hunting or furniture-collecting. ”

“ It looks just like the blunt rounded end of a stump or piece of fir-bark, whilst the dark brown lines and mottlings of the feathers not only blend with and fade into the surroundings, but have in themselves, at a little distance, a great resemblance to the flaked surface of the bark, the lighter feathers exactly mimicking those patches where some of the layers have been more newly flaked off. ”

“ That anything used in the construction of the nest should—during the nuptial season—fill the bird's mind with a picture of its construction, and with all the ideas and associations connected with this, we can understand; and, as male birds fight together, at this time, for the possession of the female, it does not seem impossible that a vision of what such possession implies should sometimes pass through the mind of either combatant, when not in the actual frenzy of combat. ”

“ They prefer a place with some cover to one quite bare. [2] As evening falls they indulge in curious and excited motions, which may be called dances, or dance-antics. These are accompanied with their wild wailing note, which is of a peculiar character. It ends in a wail, but there is a prelude—often a long one—which begins with some high-pitched plaintive cries, and then passes into wild, wailing trills and twitterings that seem part of the deepening gloom and sad sky; for Nature's own sadness seems to speak in the voice of these birds. ”

“ From her sitting so steadily, and her haste to return to the nest, I have little doubt that this is the female bird, and if so, as the male dived for weeds and brought them to the nest in the most accustomed manner, I imagine that both birds help in the building of it, for one can hardly suppose that the male alone does so. Whilst sitting the bird has her neck bent back between the shoulders in an easy curve, the head being just raised above the back, and held straight, with the beak pointing forward. ”

“ Coming, now, to my observations on the Peewit (which have, as I suppose, a bearing upon the foregoing remarks) , I will premise by saying that anyone who watches these birds during the early spring will see them going through some curious actions on the ground, which I term "rolling," for want of a better word. A bird thus acting presses its breast into the soil, and, by moving from side to side, or turning upon it a little as on a pivot, makes a round cup of just such a nature as—lined with grass or lichen—the eggs, when found, are seen to repose in. ”

“ And if some of many movements, the cause of all of which is sexual, should be of such a nature that out of them good might accrue to the species, why should not natural selection seize hold upon, increase, and gradually shape them, making them, at last (through the individual memory) , intelligent and purposive, since, by becoming so, their utility might be largely increased, and proceed at a much quicker rate? ”

“ I do not, of course, mean to suggest that the birds were conscious of the symbolical meaning of what they did in the way in which a man would be, but if their action was not in its essential nature symbolical, then will anyone explain its precise significance, and why it was so immediately followed by an eager love-journey to the nest, which was at a considerable distance off? ”

“ If a certain structure—the nest—is habitually made use of by any species of bird for pairing as well as for laying eggs in, which of these two uses are we to consider as the primary, and which the secondary one? In other words, has the bird built a thalamum which has become, in time, a nest, or a nest which has become a thalamum? This brings us to the origin of nest building, which need not, necessarily, have been the desire to shelter and conceal the eggs. ”

“ I admit that, when we look at, say, the Laocoon, the Assumption, or a portrait by Rembrandt, it is difficult to bear in mind the relative proportions of human and divine genius, but reason should tell us how immeasurably superior are the works of nature to those of art. If we must love killing, yet let us not, even as pure egotists, tolerate making to cease, for the more cessation the less killing in the long run—the end should sanctify the means. ”

“ It is clearly the female, for the other, the male, is considerably larger, and has a larger crest. Both birds remain quietly by the nest for a minute or so, the male turned sideways in the water so that full three-fourths of his beautiful silver breast is exposed; and as he preens it, assiduously spearing into the thick fur of feathers with his long finely-pointed bill, one of his finned feet or paddles is often raised above the surface of the water, and beats it idly. ”

“ How different are these collecting movements to those which we see in a bird whose nest-building instinct has become more highly developed! They seem to be but just emerging from the region of blind forces, to be only half purposive, not yet fully guided by a distinct idea of doing something for some definite end. Yet it is just these actions which most resemble ones which seem so purposive in the ordinary building of a nest. ”

“ Seeing how well every other bird does without it, can we suppose it to be of any service? Its beauty, however—which one misses dreadfully in the young flying bird—is apparent to anyone, and it goes hand in hand with an increased and ascending scale of beauty in colour. ”

“ Supposing, then, that a male ground-laying bird that makes no nest indulges during the season of love, till shortly before the actual laying of the eggs, in all sorts of strange frenzied movements upon the ground, and that these movements tend to become localized and concentrated in some particular spot or spots in which—or one of which—the female, as sexually attracted thereto, ultimately lays her eggs, have we not here the nucleus, or, at any rate, the potentiality, of the future nest? ”

“ That birds have, as a rule, any particular—or, at least, any clearly defined—object in building more than one nest, I do not myself believe; but, be that as it may, such a habit, joined to the one of pairing on the nest, appears to me to offer just that sort of foundation out of which such a state of affairs as we have with the Bower-birds might eventually arise. ”

“ These birds seemed like wild spirits flying out on a stormy sky, and their wailing note was all in unison. They flew high and strongly, and made one wish to be one of them, and have done with human pettinesses.
October 4th.—Going out at 4.30, when it was still dark, walked to the crests of low hills forming boundary of one side of river valley. I soon heard the ground-note of the Great Plovers, who appeared to be spread about over the ploughed and stubble fields in all directions, where, no doubt, they had been feeding during the night. ”

“ Let us supply these wants in our proper selves, and "keep down" those redundancies which prey upon them, and the cruel extermination—now in active process—of so many beautiful and interesting forms of life will cease. By preserving our own "balance"—the proper proportion of our tastes and pleasures—we should be preserving that of nature. What, for instance, would not a proper balance of appreciation in women as between their own beauty and that of birds effect in favour of the latter? ”

“ In another chase, the object of which I was unable to see (twilight coming on) , the same bird, at the end of a run, made a straight-up jump into the air (missing it, I think) . This latter action I have not observed before, but the quick eager runs with sudden start-stops between—the head thrust eagerly forward—were so exactly the habitual actions of these birds (as I have often watched them at a greater or less distance through the glasses) that I now feel sure they are usually pursuing low-flying moths or other insects at such times. ”

“ Instead of fighting, however, which both the champions seem to be chary of, one of them again runs into a hollow—this time a very shallow one—and begins to dance, but in a manner slightly different. He now hardly rises from the ground, over which he seems more to spin in a strange sort of way, than to fly—to buzz, as it were—in a confined area and with a tendency to go round and round. ”

“ After standing a little with straddled legs, he sinks down, and lies along the nest in just the same manner, as far as I can see, as the female has done, once before actual or attempted pairing, and many times, as prepared for and wishing it. The female is now swimming up, and, on arriving at the nest, she acts exactly as the male has done when contemplating ascending it in order to pair with her. Both in action, manner, and strongly implied intent the sexes seem to be reversed, yet there is no doubt as to which is which, for the male is very considerably larger than the female. ”

“ May 3rd.—This morning one of the birds is sitting upon a large structure of weeds which I imagine to be the finished nest. It would seem, however, that some touches are added even after incubation—or, at least, the laying of the eggs—has commenced, for now the other bird is swimming to the nest, and, when within a little distance of it, dives, and, coming up with some weeds in its bill, lays them at the edge of it. ”

“ Whilst swimming in the neighbourhood of the nest the male bird was constantly preening himself, not only the neck and upper parts, but the whole ventral surface, to do which he turned himself sideways in the water, thus presenting to the view a broad expanse of silvery feathers. ”

“ I believe that the key to the unlocking of many of the wonderchambers of bird doings is to be sought in the highly nervous and excitable organization which birds, as a class, possess, and, especially, in the extraordinary development of this during the breeding and rearing time. This nervous sexual or parental excitation produces all sorts of extravagant motions and antics which are at first quite useless, but on the raw material of which both natural and sexual selection have seized and are constantly seizing. ”

“ If a bird, whilst ecstatically rolling on the ground, were to pick up and throw aside either small sticks, or any other loose-lying and easily-seized objects—such as bits of grass or fibrous roots—I can see no reason why it should not, by stretching out its neck to such as lay only just within reach, and dropping them again when in an easier attitude, make a sort of collection of them close about it. ”

“ Though as cautious as I could be, and keeping well behind the bracken (always lying flat) , yet several birds took alarm and flew off, though not to any great distance. Including these I counted forty-one standing scattered about the amphitheatre. They were all of them particularly dull and listless, hardly moving from where they stood, and much less occupied in preening their feathers than has hitherto been the case. This inaction continued up to twilight, and I connect it in some measure at least with an unusual absence of insects at this time. ”

“ That this process (or, at any rate, the later stages of it) has now, with most birds, become a deliberate one, I do not doubt. But, as every evolutionist will admit, it is the beginnings of anything which best explain and are most fraught with significance. Is it possible that even the actual building of the nest may have had a nervous—a frenzied—origin? Lions and other fierce carnivorous animals will, when wounded, bite at sticks, or anything else lying within their reach. ”

“ Not only, too, have these Grebes never fought (and they might as well fight for the water as for fish) , but they have never had, whilst under my observation, one inimical moment. Nor is the particular matter which I have here recorded of a unique nature. Other birds act, sometimes, in more or less the same way. I have seen a pair of Shags at the nest (but not whilst occupied in building it) hold between them a piece of seaweed, and move their heads about with it in a strange half-coquettish manner, as though they knew what they meant. ”

“ It is certainly a made structure, but, as certainly, altogether slight and insignificant, compared to those of last year. One might call it a degenerate nest, and it certainly suggests the idea that it has only been constructed—up to the present, at least—for the purpose for which it has alone been used. ”