DOMESTICATED BIRDS 161 



every one must admire the valor, grace, and address which 

 such scenes exhibit. Except where the brutal custom of put- 

 ting steel points on the spurs prevails, the birds rarely receive 

 fatal wounds. The defeated cock is soon brought to confess 

 his inferiority and takes himself away. At no other time in 

 the life of these birds does their organic beauty appear to 

 such advantage as when they are struggling with each other. 

 Then alone do we perceive the singular efficiency of their 

 bodies and the quick as well as appropriate action of their 

 instincts. They set themselves against each other in attitudes 

 as well chosen and as peculiar as those of a well-trained 

 fencer. Before the assault they often go through a singular 

 performance, which consists in picking up bits of twigs or 

 pebbles. These they cast into the air, an unmeaning move- 

 ment which may be compared to the like meaningless though 

 similarly graceful salute with which swordsmen preface their 

 contests. Then, with their legs flexed so that they may be 

 ready for the spring, and with the rather stiff feathers about 

 the neck erected so as to serve as a shield, they creep toward 

 each other until they are separated by the distance appro- 

 priate for the spring. When fairly placed for battle they 

 begin a system of fence which is intended to provoke the 

 enemy to an untimely assault. The art of the game appears 

 to consist in persuading the adversary to venture an attack 

 where his force will be spent in the air, so that a blow can be 

 given him before he has time to recover position. The issue 

 depends much on the endurance of the birds. Their move- 

 ments require so much energy that one of them is apt to 

 become exhausted before the other is quite spent. In rare 

 cases, only one of which has been seen by me, a weary bird 

 will feign death for a minute or so and thus obtain new 



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