Abstract
Closely studying a rookery of eight nests during the incubation period, C. M. Ogilvie noticed that the hen birds applied themselves almost exclusively to incubation, while excursions were rare and very brief. (British Birds, 40, No. 5; May, 1947.) Feeding and coition, when this occurred, took place upon the nest. The cock bird was responsible for feeding the hen, a duty which was performed with characteristic ceremony at irregular intervals; intrusions within the colony and invasions from without were combated by the male birds. Coition was more often promiscuous than between mated pairs, and took the form of an assault resisted by the hen and countered by other cocks.
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Rook Behaviour during Incubation. Nature 160, 563 (1947). https://doi.org/10.1038/160563d0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/160563d0