Chap. XIII. LAW OF BATTLE. 41 



for half an hour, until one got hold of the head of the 

 other which would have been killed, had not the ob- 

 server interfered ; the female all the time lookins: on as 

 a quiet spectator.^ The males of an allied bird {Galli- 

 crex cristatus), as Mr. Blyth informs me, are one third 

 larger than the females, and are so pugnacious during 

 the breeding-season, that they are ke^^t by the natives 

 of Eastern Bengal for the sake of fighting. Various 

 other birds are kept in India for the same purpose, for 

 instance the Bulbuls [Fycnonotus hsemorrlious) which 

 '' fight with great spirit." ^ 



The polygamous Ruff (Machetes jjugnaXy fig. 37) is 

 notorious for his extreme pugnacity ; and in the spriug, 

 the males, which are considerably larger than the 

 females, congregate day after day at a particular spot, 

 w^here the females propose to lay their eggs. The 

 fowlers discover these spots by the turf being trampled 

 somewhat bare. Here they fight very much like game- 

 cocks, seizing each other with their beaks and striking 

 with their wings. The great ruff of feathers round the 

 neck is then erected, and according to Col. Montagu 

 " sweeps the ground as a shield to defend the more 

 " tender parts ; " and this is the only instance known 

 to me in the case of birds, of any structure serving as a 

 shield. The ruff of feathers, however, from its varied 

 and rich colours probably serves in chief part as an 

 ornament. Like most pugnacious birds, they seem 

 always ready to fight, and when closely confined often 

 kiJl each other; but Montagu observed that their 

 pugnacity becomes greater during the spring, when the 

 long feathers on their necks are fully developed ; and 

 at this period the least movement by any one bird 



^ W. Thompson, 'Nat. Hist, of Ireland : Birds,' vol. ii. 1850, p. 327 

 ^ Jerdon, ' Birds of India,' 1803, vol. ii. p. 90. 



