Varieties of Come-Hither

I'm fascinated by the quaint, imaginative nineteenth-century theories of natural history documented by devoted ornithologists and Victorian scientists. David Attenborough's BBC documentaries are the modern answer to these captivating accounts of the natural world. I am gripped by the elaborate and tender mating rituals of achingly beautiful organisms, ornate and lonely in vast ecosystems.


From another book of mine by a similar title as the one above, The Sex Life of the Animals (1965), the following excerpt epitomizes the anthropomorphic prose of natural history texts that I adore:

"There is another family of birds in Australia who are related to the birds of paradise but who are unique in the animal kingdom in certain courtship practices. These birds not only display their beauty; they also decorate the dance floor on which they will parade themselves. Moreover, some species build veritable bowers for love. The males of the bowerbirds collect twigs, thrust small branches into the ground, and erect structures which look like tiny huts. The floor of these bowers is paved with colored moss or pretty pebbles, the walls tapestries with blades of grass or leaves. The Atlas bowerbirds and two other species actually paint the walls, the males dipping bits of bark or leaves into the blue or dark-green saliva they secrete and applying the fluid to the walls of the bower.
This use of tools is unique among birds. But even such efforts are not enough for the little architects. The male bowerbirds also adorn the dance floors and bowers with snail shells, beetle wings, parrot feathers, leaves, flowers, colored seeds--and even the yellowed skulls of small bats. Near populated areas, they use fragments of glass, bits of paper, and other debris of human civilization. Moreover, each of the nineteen species shows its own distinct taste in decor.
The building of these bowers is not the equivalent of nest building. For one thing, they are exclusively the work of the males, while the bowl-shaped and not particularly artistic nests are made by the females alone, and in altogether different places. The males spend weeks and months building their bowers and sometimes change the ornaments almost every day. By whistling, loud calls, and spirited dance steps they invite the females to inspect their work, and sometimes greet them by offering a flower or some other pretty item from their collection of ornaments. Undoubtedly the females are sexually stimulated by the sight of the structures and the precious things they contain. " (262-4)