48 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. Part II. 



spurs on eacli wing ; and these are sucli formidable wea- 

 pons that a single blow has driven a dog howling away. 

 But it does not appear that the spurs in this case, or in 

 that of some of the spur-winged rails, are larger in the 

 male than in the female.^*^ In certain plovers, however, 

 tlie wing-spurs must be considered as a sexual character. 

 Thus in the male of our common peewit (Vanellus cris- 

 tatus) the tubercde on the shoulder of the wing becomes 

 more prominent during the breeding-season, and the 

 males are known to fight together. In some species 

 of Lobivanellus a similar tubercle becomes developed 

 during the breeding-season "into a short horny spur." 

 In the Australian L. lobatus both sexes have spurs, but 

 these are much lari^er in the males than in the females. 

 In an allied bird, tlie IIo]plo])terus armatus, the spurs 

 do not increase in size during the breeding-season ; but 

 these birds have been seen in Egypt to fight together, 

 in the same manner as our peewits, by turning suddenly 

 in the air and striking sidcAvays at each otlier, some- 

 times with a fatal result. Thus also they drive away 

 other enemies.^''' 



The season of love is that of battle ; but the males 

 of some birds, as of the game-fowl and ruff, and even 

 the young males of the wild turkey and grouse,^^ are 

 ready to fight whenever they meet. The presence of 

 the female is the teterrima belli causa. The Bengali 



'^ For the Egyptian goose, see Macgillivray, ' British Birds,' vol. iv. 

 p. 639. For Pleetropterus, ' Livingstone's Travels,' p. 254. For Pala- 

 niedea. Brehms ' Thierleben,' B. iv. s. 740. See also on this bird Azara, 

 ' Voyages dans I'Ameriqne merid.' torn. iv. 1809, p. 179, 253. 



^' See, on our peewit, Mr. E. Carr in 'Land and Water,' Aug. 8th, 

 18G8, p. 46. In regard to Lobivanellus, see Jerdon's 'Birds of India,' 

 vol. iii. p. 647, and Gould's ' Handbook of Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. 

 p. 220. For the Holopterus, see Mr. Allen in the ' Ibis,' vol. v. 1863, 

 p. 156. 



*^ Audubon, • Ornith. Biography,' vol. ii. p. 492 ; vol. i. p. 4-13. 



