448 



THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



and blue wattles, makes a superb, though, to our eyes, 

 grotesque appearance. Similar facts have already been 

 given with respect to grouse of various kinds. Turning to 

 another order. The male Rupicola crocea (fig. 50) is one 

 of the most beautiful birds in the world, being of a splendid 

 orange, with some of the feathers curiously truncated and 



Fig. 50. Rupicola crocea, male (T. W. Wood). 



plumose. The female is brownish -green, shaded with red, 

 and has a much smaller crest. Sir R. Schomburgk has 

 described their courtship; he found one of their meeting- 

 places where ten males and two females were present. Tlie 

 space was from four to five feet in diameter, and appeared 

 to have been cleared of every blade of grass and smoothed 

 as if by human hands. A male ''was capering to tl^e 



