68 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. L pART TL 



formed solely as halls of assemblages, where both sexes 

 amuse themselves and pay their court, must cost the birds 

 much labor. The bower, for instance, of the fawn- 

 breasted species, is nearly four feet in length, eighteen 

 inches in height, and is raised on a thick platform of 

 sticks. 



Decoration. — I will first discuss the cases in which the 

 males are ornamented either exclusively or in a much 

 higher degree than the females; and in a succeeding 

 chapter those in which both sexes are equally orna- 

 mented, and finally the rare cases in which the female is 

 somewhat more brightly colored than the male. As with 

 the artificial ornaments used by savage and civilized men, 

 so with the natural ornaments of birds, the head is the 

 chief seat of decoration. flJ The ornaments, as mentioned 

 at the commencement of this chapter, are wonderfully di- 

 versified. The plumes on the front or back of the head 

 consist of variously-shaped feathers, sometimes capable of 

 erection or expansion, by which their beautiful colors are 

 fully displayed. Elegant ear-tufts (see Fig. 39 ante) are 

 occasionally present. The head is sometimes covered 

 with velvety down like that of the pheasant ; or is naked 

 and vividly colored; or supports fleshy appendages, fila- 

 ments, and solid protuberances. The throat, also, is 

 sometimes ornamented with a beard, or with wattles or 

 caruncles. Such appendages are generally brightly col- 

 ored, and no doubt serve as ornaments, though not always 

 ornamental in our eyes ; for while 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 appendages about the head of the male 

 Tragopan pheasant (Ceriomis temminckii) swell into a 



60 See remarks to this effect, on the " Feeling of Beauty among Ani- 

 mals," by Mr. J. Shaw, in the 'Athenaeum,' Nov. 24, 1866, p. 681. 



