41G THE DESCENT OF MAN, 



fight together by placing three small cages in a row with a 

 female in the middle-; after a little time the two males are 

 turned loose and immediately a desperate battle ensues.* 

 When many males congregate at the same appointed spot 

 and fight together, as in the case of grouse and various 

 other birds, they are generally attended by the females,! 

 which afterward pair with the victorious combatants. But 

 in some cases the pairing precedes instead of succeeding 

 the combat; thus according to Audubon, | several males of 

 the Virginian goat -sucker {Caprimulgus virgmianus) 

 '^ court in a highly entertaining manner the female, and 

 no sooner has she made her choice than her approved gives 

 chase to all intruders, and drives them beyond his 

 dominions.''' Generally the males try to drive away or kill 

 their rivals before they pair. It does not, however, appear 

 that the females invariably prefer the victorious males. I 

 have indeed been assured by Dr. W. Kovalevsky that the 

 female capercailzie sometimes steals away with a young 

 male who has not dared to enter the arena with the older 

 cocks, in the same manner as occasionally happens with the 

 does of the red-deer in Scotland. When two males contend 

 in presence of a single female, the victor^ no doubt, com- 

 monly gains his desire; but some of these battles are caused 

 by wandering males trying to distract the peace of an 

 already mated pair. 



Even with the most pugnacious species it is probable that 

 the pairing does not depend exclusively on the mere 

 strength and courage of the male; for such males are 

 generally decorated v>^ith various ornaments, which often 

 become more brilliant during the breeding - season, and 

 which are sedulously displayed before the females. The 



*Mr. Blyth, " Land and Water." 1867, p. 212 



f Richardson on Tetrao umbellus " Fauna Bor. Amer.: Birds, "^ 

 1831. p. 343. L. Lloyd, "Game Birds of Sweden." 1867. pp. 22, 79, 

 on the capercailzie and black-cock, Brehm, however, asserts 

 (" Thierleben," etc., B. iv, s. 352) that in Germany the gray-hens do 

 not generally attend the Balzen of the black-cocks, but this is 

 an exception to the common rule; possibly the hens may lie hidden 

 in the surrounding bushes, as is known to be the case with the gray- 

 hens in Scandinavia, and with other species in North America. 



t " Ornithological Biography," vol. ii. p. 275. 



Brehm, "Thierleben," etc.. B iv, 1867, p. 990. Audubon, 

 "Ornith. Biography," vol. ii, p, 492. 



