72 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIEDS. Part II. 



ornaments, though not always ornamental in onr eyes ; 

 for whilst the male is in the act of courting the female, 

 they often swell and assume more vivid tints, as in the 

 case of the male turkey. At such times the fleshy ap- 

 pendages about the head of the male Tragopan phea- 

 sant {Ceriornis temminckii) swell into a large lappet 

 on the throat and into tuo horns, one on each side of 

 the splendid top-knot ; and these are then coloured of 

 the most intense blue which I have ever beheld. The 

 African hornbill {Bucorax ahyssinicus) inflates the 

 scarlet bladder-like wattle on its neck, and with its 

 wings drooping and tail expanded " makes quite a grand 

 " appearance." ^^ Even the iris of the eye is sometimes 

 more brightly coloured in the male than in the female ; 

 and this is frequently the case with the beak, for 

 instance, in our common black-bird. In Buceros eor- 

 rugatus, the wdiole beak and immense casque are 

 coloured more conspicuously in the male than in the 

 female ; and '' the oblique grooves upon the sides of 

 " the lower mandible are peculiar to the male sex." ^^ 



The males are often ornamented with elongated fea- 

 thers or plumes springing from almost every part of the 

 body. The feathers on the throat and breast are some- 

 times developed into beautiful ruffs and collars. The 

 tail-feathers are frequently increased in length ; as we 

 see in the tail-coverts of tlie peacock, and in the tail of 

 the Argus pheasant. The body of this latter bird is not 

 larger than that of a fowl ; yet the length from the end 

 of the beak to the extremity of the tail is no less than 

 five feet three inches.*^^ The wing-feathers are not 

 elongated nearly so often as the tail-feathers ; for their 



" Mr. Monteiro, ' Ibis,' vol. iv. 1862, p. 339. 



62 ' Land and Water,' 1868, p. 217. 



^'^ Jardine's ' Natui-aliat Library : Birds,' vol. xiv. p. 166. 



