• 



Chap. XIIL] DECORATION. 69 



large lappet on the throat and into two horns, one on 

 each side of the splendid £op-knot ; and these are then 

 colored of the most intense blue which I have ever be- 

 held. The African hornbill (Bucorax Abyssinicus) inflates 

 the scarlet bladder-like wattle on its neck, and with its 

 wing drooping and tail expanded " makes' quite a grand 

 appearance." 61 Even the iris of the eye is sometimes 

 more brightly colored in the male than in the female ; 

 and this is frequently the case with the beak, for instance, 

 in our common blackbird. In JBuceros corrugatus, the 

 whole beak and immense casque are colored more con- 

 spicuously in the male than in the female; and "the ob- 

 lique grooves upon the sides of the lower mandible are 

 peculiar to the male sex." 62 



The males are often ornamented with elongated feath- 

 ers or plumes, springing from almost every part of the 

 body. The feathers on the throat and breast are some- 

 times developed into beautiful ruffs and collars. The tail- 

 feathers are frequently increased in length, as we see in 

 the tail-coverts of the peacock, and in the tail of the 

 Argus pheasant. The body of this latter bird is not 

 larger than that of a fowl ; yet the length from the end of 

 the beak to the extremity of the tail is no less than five 

 feet three inches. 63 The wing-feathers are not elongated 

 nearly so often as the tail-feathers ; for their elongation 

 would impede the act of flight. Yet the, beautifully ocel- 

 lated secondary wing-feathers of the male Argus pheasant 

 are nearly three feet in length ; and, in a small African 

 night-jar (Cosmetornis vexillarius), one of the primary 

 wing-feathers, during the breeding-season, attains a length 

 of twenty-six inches, while the bird itself is only ten inches 

 in length. In another closely-allied genus of night-jars, 



61 Mr. Monteiro, 'Ibis,' vol. iv. 1862, p. 339. 



62 'Land and Water,' 1868, p. 217. 



63 Jardine's 'Naturalist Library: Birds,' voL xiv. p. 166. 



