Ornithological and Other Oddities 



appreciated by a human observer. Such are 

 not difficult to procure, and in order to test 

 feminine preference all one has to do is to 

 confine them in such a way that, while the 

 males cannot get at each other to fight, the 

 hen may be able to declare her preference by 

 associating with the suitor she favours. In the 

 case of large birds, the trio might be confined 

 in an enclosure, the two males each with a 

 wing clipped, and separated by a fence, while 

 the hen could be allowed power of flight, so 

 as to visit either compartment. 



With small birds a three-compartment cage, 

 with wire divisions, is all that is needed, and 

 in such a cage I tried, some years ago, some 

 experiments with avadavats (Sporczgintkus aman- 

 dava). In these little finches, as many of my 

 readers know, the male in breeding plumage 

 is red with white spots, and the hen brown. 

 The red varies in intensity even in full-plumaged 

 birds, and I submitted to the hen first of all 

 two male birds, one of a coppery and the other 

 of a rich scarlet tint. In no long time she 

 had made her choice of the latter bird ; the 

 other, I am sorry to say, very soon died ; and, 

 as he had appeared perfectly healthy, I fear 

 grief was accountable for his end — a warning 

 to future experimenters to remove the rejected 

 suitor as early as possible. In the present 



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