Chap. XII r. Law of Battle. 363 



effect. It lias been recorded by a trustworthy writer n that in 

 Derbyshire a kite struck at a game-hen accompanied by her 

 chickens, when the cock rushed to the rescue, and drove his 

 spur right through the eye and skull of the aggressor. The 

 spur was with difficulty drawn from the skull, and as the kite 

 though dead retained his grasp, the two birds were firmly 

 locked together; but the cock when disentangled was very 

 little injured. The invincible courage of the game-cock is 

 notorious: a gentleman who long ago witnessed the brutal 

 scene, told me that a bird had both its legs broken by some 

 accident in the cockpit, and the owner laid a wager that if the 

 legs could be spliced so that the bird could stand upright, he 

 would continue fighting. This was effected on the spot, and the 

 bird fought with undaunted courage until he received his death- 

 stroke. Jn Ceylon a closely allied, wild species, the Callus 

 Stanleyi, is known to fight desperately "in defence of his 

 " seraglio," so that one of the combatants is frequently found 

 dead. 12 An Indian partridge ( Ortygornis gularis), the male of 

 which is furnished with strong and sharp spurs, is so quarrel- 

 some, " that the scars of former fights disfigure the breast of 

 " almost every bird you kill." 13 



The males of almost all gallinaceous birds, even those which 

 are not furnished with spurs, engage during the breeding-season 

 in fierce conflicts. The Capercailzie and Black-cock (Tetrao 

 urogallus and T. tetrix), which are both polygamists, have regular 

 appointed places, where during many weeks they congregate in 

 numbers to fight together and to display their charms before the 

 females. Dr. W. Kovalevsky informs me that in Eussia he has 

 seen the snow all bloody on the arenas where the capercailzie 

 have fought ; and the black-cocks " make the feathers fly in every 

 " direction," when several " engage in a battle royal." The 

 elder Brehm gives a curious account of the Balz, as the love- 

 dances and love-songs of the Black-cock are called in Germany. 

 The bird utters almost continuously the strangest noises : " he 

 " holds his tail up and spreads it out like a fan, he lifts up his 

 " head and neck with all the feathers erect, and stretches his 

 " wings from the body. Then he takes a few jumps in different 

 " directions, sometimes in a circle, and presses the under part of 

 " his beak so hard against the ground that the chin feathers are 

 " rubbed off. During these movements he beats his wings and 

 " turns round and round. The more ardent he grows the more 

 u lively he becomes, until at last the bird appears like a frantic 



11 Mr. Hewitt in the 'Poultry Nat. Hist.' vol. xiw 1854, p. 63. 

 Book by Tegetmeier,' 1866, p. 137. 13 Jerdon. 'Birds of India,' iol 



- 2 Layaji, 'Annals and Mag. of hi. \\ 574 



