1. The courtship behaviour of adult male and female ostriches was observed in the presence and absence of human beings. 2. Courtship behaviours in both males and females were more prevalent in the presence of humans. 3. Exposure to a human for a short period did not stimulate courtship behaviour in the period immediately after the human had withdrawn. 4. Courtship behaviour towards humans may be important in the reproductive success of ostriches in a farming environment.

1. Three sets of experiments were performed on two batches of ostrich chicks to investigate the factors affecting the pecking and feeding behaviour of grouped individuals.2. Chicks showed no significant alteration of their feeding behaviour in response to raising pen walls in the rearing facility from 30 to 60 cm.3. Further analysis on a different set of birds revealed consistent short term individual differences in the frequency of feeding and non-feeding pecks.4. There were significant pen effects on behaviour suggesting the possible development of a pen 'culture' of pecking behaviour.5. Pecking behaviours in 26 to 33 d-old chicks, with the exception of drinking, were generally negatively correlated, so any non-food pecking by a chick was generally associated with fewer pecks targeted at food.6. By the age of two months chicks were pecking at food on the floor to a far greater extent than at any food presented in food trays.

1. Time budget analysis of the typical behaviours of young ostrich chicks showed that chicks spent over 50% of their time foraging and walking.2. Food presented in bowls was largely ignored whereas food scattered on the floor was readily taken.3. A colour preference test showed that green was the preferred colour.

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McLellan and McKelvie (1993), in a study investigating the effects of age and gender on attractiveness of photographs of faces, sought to establish whether men favoured faces of greater physical attractiveness in younger women, and women chose slightly older men (consistent with a proposed sociobiological interpretation) or whether people selected faces of the same age. We suggest the authors may wish to reconsider their results in view of our suggestion that their methodological procedure is in error. We also argue in the context of sociobiological theory the following: (1) the implicit assumption that facial attractiveness can be used as an indicator of human mate choice is questionable; (2) age categories of subjects choosing photographs of faces are too broad to test the validity of a sociobiological hypothesis; (3) results are not accurately interpreted.

Sir, Poole (Animal Welfare 1992, 1: 203-220) appears to argue that the welfare of mammals is in some way more important than that of non-mammalian species eg birds, on the grounds that mammals are unique in possessing ‘psychological needs’. We are concerned that an adoption of Poole's basic argument may lead to a ‘two-tier’ approach to the study of vertebrate welfare, where mammals are seen as possessing certain needs that birds do not. We believe any such argument to be flawed and that bird species should be considered no less important when regarding issues of welfare.