Chap. XIV. PREFERENCE BY THE FEMALE. 113 



Mr. Ramsay, ornaments its short bower witli bleached 

 land-shells belonging to five or six species, and with 

 " berries of various colours, blue, red, and black, which 

 " give it when fresh a very pretty appearance. Besides 

 " these there were several newly-picked leaves and 

 " young shoots of a pinkish colour, the whole shewing a 

 " decided taste for the beautifuL" Well may Mr. Gould 

 say " these highly decorated halls of assembly must be 

 " regarded as the most wonderful instances of bird-archi- 

 " tecture yet discovered ; " and the taste, as we see, of 

 the several species certainly differs.^^ 



Freference for particular Males htj the Females. — 

 Having made these preliminary remarks on the discrimi- 

 nation and taste of birds, I will give all the facts known 

 to me, which bear on the preference shewn by the female 

 for particular males. It is certain that distinct species of 

 birds occasionally pair in a state of nature and produce 

 hybrids. Many instances could be given : thus Macgil- 

 livray relates how a male blackbird and female thrush 

 *' fell in love with each other," and produced offspring. ^^ 

 Several years ago eighteen cases had been recorded of 

 the occurrence in Great Britain of hybrids between the 

 black grouse and pheasant ; ^^ but most of these cases 

 may perhaps be accounted for by solitary birds not 

 finding one of their own species to pair with. With 

 other birds, as Mr. Jenner Weir has reason to believe, 

 hybrids are sometimes the result of the casual inter- 

 course of birds building in close j)rpximity. But these 



^5 On the ornamented nests of humming-birds, Gonkl, * Introduc- 

 tion to the Trochilidce,' 1861, p. 19. On the bower-birds, Gould 

 'Handbook to the Birds of Australia,' 1865, vol. i. p. 444-loj 

 Kamsay in the ' Ibis,' 1867, p. 456. 



16 ' Hist, of British Birds,' vol. ii. p. 92. 



17 'Zoologist,' 1853-1854, p. 3946. 



YOL. II. I 



