> Hugh Jennings wrote:
>
> >Another question for the
> experts, is why do the swallows flutter their wings when at a puddle to
> pick
> up mud?

I'm not an expert, I just play one on TV. I think there's pretty good
evidence, though, that the swallows are fluttering their wings to keep
other swallows from landing on them to try and force a copulation. I
wouldn't expect you to take that from me on faith, but I also don't have
the materials here at home to look up the relevant research and give the
details. Nestbuilding is the time when females are close to their peak in
fertility, and the swallow tribe is notoriously prone to shennanigans of
every sort (extra-pair copulations, laying eggs in neighbors' nests,
laying them in your own, then *carrying* the partly incubated egg to
another nest...)

Hope this doesn't shatter any illusions about bird lives. :)

Christopher E. Hill
Department of Zoology
University of Washington
P. O. Box 351800
Seattle, WA 98195-1800