Chap. XIII. 



Display by the Male. 



395 



appearance. Similar facts have already been given with respect 

 to grouse of various kinds. Turning to another Order. The 

 male Rupicola crocea (fig. 50) is one of the most beautiful birds 

 in the world, being of a splendid orange, with some of the 

 feathers curiously truncated and plumose. The female is brown- 

 ish-green, shaded with red, and has a much smaller crest. Sir 

 R. Schomburgk has described their courtship ; he found one 



Fig. 50. 



Itupicola crocea, male (T. W. Wood). 



of their meeting-places where ten males and two females were 

 present. The space was from four to five feet in diameter, and 

 appeared to have been cleared of every blade of grass and 

 smoothed as if by human hands. A male " was capering, to the 

 " apparent delight of several others. Now spreading its wings, 

 " throwing up its head, or opening its tail like a fan ; now 

 " strutting about with a hopping gait until tired, when it 



