118 THE STORY OF BIRD-LIFE. 



of his spirit is expended in care for his family. 

 He never comes to see after an enemy." 



"The males of almost all gallinaceous birds, 

 even those which are not furnished with spurs, 

 engage during the breeding-season in fierce con- 

 flicts. The capercailzie and black-cock . . . 

 which are both polygamists, have regular ap- 

 pointed places, where during many weeks they 

 congregate in numbers to fight together and to 

 display their charms before the females. Dr 

 W. Kovalevsky informs me that in Eussia he 

 has seen the snow all bloody on the Orenas 

 where the capercailzie have fought ; and the 

 black-cocks ' make the feathers fly in every direc- 

 tion' when several 'engage in a battle royal.' 

 The elder Brehm gives a curious account of the 

 balz, as the love-dances and love-songs of the 

 black-cock are called in Germany. The bird 

 utters almost continuously the strangest noises : 

 ' he holds his tail up and spreads it out like a 

 fan, he lifts up his head and neck with all the 

 feathers erect, and stretches his wings from the 

 body. Then he takes a few jumps in different 

 directions, sometimes in a circle, and presses the 

 under part of his beak so hard against the 

 ground that the chin feathers are rubbed off. 

 During these movements he beats his wings and 

 turns round and round. The more ardent he 

 grows, the more lively he becomes, until at last 

 the bird appears like a frantic creature. At 

 such times the black-cocks are so absorbed that 

 they become almost blind and deaf, but less so 

 than the capercailzie : hence, bird after bird may 

 be shot on the same spot, or even caught by the 



