Laurie Knight wrote:
"As luck would have it, I happened to be looking out the back door when
the action was happening on the mound this morning. The male had
carried out some minor excavations in the middle of the mound
[temperature testing I suspect] when a female rocked up and engaged in
some eratic scratching round the edges of the mound. She then laid down
beside the male who promptly mounted - interesting to see that he
maintained an extremely firm grip on the back of the female's neck
during the process. The female then proceeded to getting on with the
next egg laying."
Gloria Glass wrote:
I hadn't realised before that, of course, it would be the egg impregnated
by yesterday's male that was laid in today's bird's mound. Any comments
from the experts?
I seem to remember someone hypothesizing somewhere in a paper that the
female allows the male to copulate in order to propitiate him as otherwise
he will just chase her off the mound before she's had a chance to lay her
egg - of course fertilised during a previous mating - which could be the
present male or his rival. This paper also said that sometimes immediately
after mating, the male chases the female away before she's laid, or makes
it very dificult for her to lay the egg - he's only interested in a
"quickie."
Penny Drake-Brockman, Examination Recitals Co-ordinator, Sydney
Conservatorium of Music.
Tel: 02 9351 1254.
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