In recent years there has been a focus on display behaviours associated wit
h the choice of a partner, theories of sexual selection being used to expla
in their occurrence. In monogamous species, however, the display behaviours
continue beyond pair formation. In this paper I review display between the
members of established pairs. Pair display occurs throughout the pair bond
and often in several different contexts. Besides mate choice, these displa
ys are commonly explained as serving a function in territorial defence and
pair bonding, but these explanations seem unable to account for all observa
tions of pair display. However, another suggested function of display is to
manipulate another individual. An individual may, for example, manipulate
its partner into providing more parental care. Such an explanation has the
advantage of simply requiring that partners are in conflict for conspicuous
display to evolve and may provide a new interpretation of the idea of pair
bonding. (C) 2001 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.