ADDITION i^L AVfARV NOTES ooo 



favour to the shy hen by displaying before iier 

 and singing at his loudest But the hen held him 

 in dread and always fled in terror whenever he 

 approached. She was in evident danger of losing 

 her life from extreme exhaustion. Therefore, 

 I shut her up in a cage. 



Her rival being thus confined, the other bolder 

 hen now had the cock all to herself. The cock 

 tried to handle her also roughly. But this wily 

 bird stood the cock's browbeating admirably, 

 eluded all attacks and even freely indulged in 

 coquetry, whistling persistently all the while. As 

 the cock evidently paid no heed to her overtures 

 I re-introduced the shy hen to see if she could 

 shake off her fear. As soon as she was let loose, 

 the cock flew towards her with a joyful whistle ; 

 but the hen fled in sheer funk and, after being 

 pursued around the aviary, fell panting to the 

 ground. I had no alternative now but to take 

 her out of the room and try if she could pair 

 with the other cock. 



After her removal the first cock would fre- 

 quently cling to the wire-netting separating him 

 from the shy hen and burst into rapturous melody. 

 This naturally provoked the wrath of the second 

 cock which also would fly up to the wire-netting 

 and sing defiantly ; and the two spent their 



