HOW BIRDS FIGHT 



Judging from the sentiments one sometimes 

 finds expressed by people who are inclined to 

 "slop over" when writing of birds, one might 

 imagine that they lead an idyllic existence of 

 peace ; but, as a matter of fact, they are as 

 pugnacious, not to say vicious, as grosser animals, 

 and in no class of land vertebrates do we find 

 structures developed for the sole purpose of 

 fighting more frequently than in the feathered 

 one. 



It is true that some of the most quarrelsome 

 birds have no special armature, in particular 

 the ruff and the robin, and the latter often 

 manages to kill his adversary ; though in the 

 case of the former death is only likely to end 

 a fight when the birds are in captivity, and 

 closely confined at that, so that the weaker can 

 be fairly worried to death, or starved by being 

 driven from the food. 



The robin, and passerine birds generally, from 



crows downwards, fight with bill and feet, the 



latter being used, with remarkable skill in many 



cases, to hold off the adversary, or to keep him 



in chancery while the bill is brought into play. 



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