xi COLOUR AND SONG 307 



death. In fact, happiness is the general rule in the 

 animal world, and chronic melancholy is unknown. 



In all these displays of plumage and song, in 

 every exhibition of high spirits, it is the cock-birds 

 who play the leading part. The nesting season is the 

 time of jollity and hilarity, in whatever way expressed. 

 It is in springtime that there take place among some 

 species those elaborate performances that go by the 

 name of love antics ; in spring, too, the cock-birds 

 engage in their most desperate fights. Colour-dis- 

 play, singing, antics, and fighting are all allied 

 phenomena ; and all are manifested at the time of 

 pairing and nesting. 



In many species there are special preparations. 

 The cock-birds have a partial moult, after which 

 they don far gayer plumes than they have worn 

 during the winter. The Linnets, Red-polls, Dunlins, 

 Golden Plovers, Gulls, brighten up their old dresses 

 or adorn themselves with new. Ducks and their 

 kin get ready over-early ; the male Teal, having 

 been since July as dull as the hen-bird, in October 

 blossoms out in the black, chestnut, green, buff, and 

 white which he wears in spring. The Ruff puts on a 

 noble breastplate. Even the Cormorant appears with 

 a white patch on each thigh that breaks the monotony 

 of his attire. So different in many birds is the spring 

 plumage from that of the rest of the year that when 

 you shoot a specimen in autumn or winter it is often 

 quite unlike the pictures in the books which, as a rule, 

 give the birds at their best. In many cases, however, 

 for instance in that of the Peacocks and Pheasants, 

 the grand plumes are worn throughout the year. 



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