Chap. XIV. PREFERENCE BY THE FEMALE. 119 



" eproiive de Tantipathie pour im male avec lequel ou 

 " veut I'accoupler, malgre tons les feux de lainour, 

 " malgre Talpiste et le chenevis dont on la noiirrit 

 " pour augmenter son ardeur, malgie un emprisonne- 

 " ment de six mois et meme d'un an, elle refuse con- 

 " stamment ses caresses ; les avances empressees, les 

 *' agaceries, les tournoiemens, les tendres roucoulemens, 

 " rien ne pent lui plaire ni I'emouvoir ; gonflee, bou- 

 " dense, blottie dans un coin de sa prison, elle n'en sort 

 " que pour boire et manger, ou pour repousser avec une 

 *' espece de rage des caresses devenues trop pressantes." ^^ 

 On the other hanr], Mr. Harrison Weir has himself 

 observed, and has heard from several breeders, that a 

 female pigeon will occasionally take a strong fancy lor 

 a particular male, and will desert her own mate for 

 him. Some females, according to another experienced 

 observer, Eiedel,^^ are of a profligate disposition, and 

 prefer almost any stranger to their own mate. Some 

 amorous males, called by our Euglish fanciers "gay 

 birds," are so successful in their gallantries, that, as 

 Mr. H. Weir informs me, they must be shut up, on 

 account of the mischief which they cause. 



Wild turkeys in the United States, according to 

 Audubon, " sometimes pay their addresses to the domes- 

 " ticated females, and are generally received by them 

 " with great pleasure." So that these females apparently 

 prefer the wild to their own males.^'^ 



Here is a more curious case. Sir R. Heron during 

 many years kept an account of tke habits of the pea- 

 fowl, which he bred in laro-e numbers. He states that 



■2- Boitard and Corbie, ' Les Pigeons,' 1824, p. 12. Prosper Lucas 

 (' Traite de I'PIere'd. Kat.' torn. ii. 1850, p. 29tj) has himself observed 

 nearly similar facts with pigeons. 



23 ' Die Taubenzueht,' 1824, s. 8G. 



-■* ' Ornithological Biograi^hy,' vol, i. p. 13. 



