Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!uxa.cso.uiuc.edu!rcb33483 From: rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (R C. Buchmann) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: How do birds mate (at the risk of being too personal) Keywords: the birds and the bees -- well, mostly just the birds Message-ID: <1989Nov7.162006.15573@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> Date: 7 Nov 89 16:20:06 GMT References: <2918@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> <1020@dinorah.wustl.edu> Sender: news@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (News) Reply-To: rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (R C. Buchmann) Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Lines: 52 Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: How do birds mate (at the risk of being too personal) Summary: Expires: References: <2918@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> Sender: Reply-To: rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (R C. Buchmann) Followup-To: Distribution: Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Keywords: Plumbing In article <2918@cbnewsd.ATT.COM> heneghan@cbnewsd.ATT.COM (joseph.t.heneghan) writes: >My question concerns the >hardware and the method. Do males have penises like mammals, or >do they somehow spray the appropriate area. The reason I ask the >question is I'm familiar with mammals and livebearer fish, but >never really pondered the issue of egg laying. Probably for most >of you, this is old information. I suppose I could have >gone to the library, but I thought this might be good food for >discussion and possibly a good laugh! Actually, a bird's interal plumbing is very compact, because of weight limtiations due to flight. Instead of having a separate bladder and rectum, birds have a common reservoir at the end of their urinary, digestive, and reproductive tracts called the _cloaca_, or "vent". When birds mate, the male usually hops on top of the female, both of them push their tails aside, the undertail coverts are drawn away, and the two cloacae are brought together. Birds _do_ practice internal fertilization. However, some groups of birds, notably waterfowl (especially ducks) and games birds (grouse, pheasant, etc.) _do_ have grooved, erectile penises that are held in a chamber outside of the cloaca. However songbirds (Zebra Finches included) must do it the old-fashioned way. And by the way, the person (I can't recall the name, sorry) who said that birds might have some conception (pun intended ;-}) of recreational sex has some merit. What with this long Indian Summer were having in Illinois, the House Sparrow males have been getting together and harassing the females. It's hilarious to watch a large group of aroused male House Sparrows noisily attacking a female, only to be driven off. (An aside--when a male House Sparrow is aroused, it adopts a posture which includes a cocked tail and drooping wings). How one female can hold off 6 attacking males without a copulation taking place I don't know. But they really get involved--once I had a group fly inside my house and start tussling right there on my living room floor. They took some persuasion to leave, too. Hope this helps you out some!! -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- R. Cody Buchmann ^.^ "Kehaar" email: rcb33483@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu "Now I fly for you..." - Watership Down ------------------------------------------------------------------------------