4.18 T lie Descent of Man. Pakt II. 



many weeks with a silver (i.e., very pale blue) male, and at last 

 mated with him. Nevertheless, as a general rule, colour appears 

 to have little influence on the pairiEg of pigeons. Mr. Teget- 

 meier, at my request, stained some of his birds with magenta, 

 but they were not much noticed by the others. 



Female pigeons occasionally feel a strong antipathy towards 

 certain males, without any assignable cause. Thus MM. Boitard 

 and Corbie, whose experience extended over forty-five years, 

 state : " Quand une femelle eprouve de l'antipathie pour un 

 " male avec lequel on veut l'accoupler, malgre tous les feux 

 " de l'amour, malgre l'alpiste et le chenevis dont on la nourrit 

 " pour augmenter son ardeur, malgre un emprisonnement de 

 " six mois et meme d'un an, elle refuse constamment ses 

 " caresses ; lcs avances empressees, les agaceries, les tournoie- 

 " mens, les tendres roucoulemens, rien ne peut lui plaire ni 

 " l'emouvoir ; gonflee, boudeuse, blottie dans un coin de sa 

 " prison, elle n'en sort que pour boire et manger, ou pour re- 

 " pousser avec une espece de rage des caresses devenues trop pres- 

 " santes." 23 On the other hand, Mr. Harrison Weir has himself 

 observed, and has heard from several breeders, that a female 

 pigeon will occasionally take a strong fancy for a particular male, 

 and will desert her own mate for him. Some females, accord- 

 ing to another experienced observer, Eiedel, 24 are of a profligate 

 disposition, and prefer almost any stranger to their own mate. 

 Some amorous males, called by our English 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 domesticated females, 

 " and are generally received by them with great pleasure." So that 

 these females apparently prefer the wild to their own males. 25 



Here is a more curious case. Sir E. Heron during many years 

 kept an account of the habits of the peafowl, which he bred in 

 large numbers. He states that " the hens have frequently great 

 " preference to a particular peacock. They were all so fond 

 u of an old pied cock, that one year, when he was confined 

 " though still in view, they were constantly assembled close to 

 " the trellice-walls of his prison, and would not suffer a japanned 



23 Boitaid and Corbie, 'Les 24 ' Die Taubenzucht,' 1824, s. 86. 



Pigeons, &c.,' 1824, p. 12. Prosper 25 'Ornithological Biography,' 



Lucas ('Traite de l'Hered. Nat.' vol. i. p. 13. See to the same effect, 



torn. ii. 1850, p. 296) has himself Dr. Bryant, in ' Allen's Mammals toad 



observed nearly similar facts with Birds of Florida,' p. 344. 

 pigeons. 



