Chap. IV. 



IN ANIMALS. 



99 



Small birds, also, as I hear from Mr. Weir, such as 

 various finches, buntings and warblers, when angry, 



Fig. 13. — Swan driving away an intruder. Drawn from life by Mr. Wood. 



ruffle all their feathers, or only those round the neck; 

 or they spread out their wings and tail-feathers. "With 

 their plumage in this state, they rush at each other with 

 open beaks and threatening gestures. Mr. Weir con- 

 cludes from his large experience that the erection of the 

 feathers is caused much more by anger than by fear. He 

 gives as an instance a hybrid goldfinch of a most irasci- 

 ble disposition, which when approached too closely by 

 a servant, instantly assumes the appearance of a ball of 

 ruffled feathers. He believes that birds when frightened, 

 as a general rule, closely adpress all their feathers, and 

 their consequently diminished size is often astonishing. 



