ee THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS 



couples, like horses in a circus, using a clump of trees as 

 a pivot. Others, in groups of three or four, stood by, 

 interested spectators. After a time these, in turn, took 

 their places and ran round, two at a time, in their own 

 circuit, and in the same fashion. Their evolutions, he 

 says, were so regular as to suggest the guidance of some 

 invisible ring-master. These gyrations may be regarded 

 as an erotic dance. The Sambar, under like excitement, 

 will stalk about with erected tail, outstretched muzzle 

 and everted face glands, and the Black-buck, among the 

 antelopes, behaves in like fashion. 



It cannot be supposed that these quaint performances 

 are peculiar to the species in which they have been 

 observed, but rather it may be inferred that similar 

 antics, besides others yet to be discovered, are performed 

 by all. Their purpose seems plain enough, for they 

 must be regarded surely as aphrodisiacs, excitants to 

 pairing. They recall the erotic dances of savages, or the 

 ceremonial orgies of ancient civilizations. Such per- 

 formances, on an even more elaborate scale, are to be 

 met with among the birds. 



So far, in describing the horned ruminants, the horns 

 only have been considered ; but these animals display 

 yet other secondary sexual characters, which, while less 

 conspicuous, are yet no less important during this critical 

 period of life. Some, as for instance the canine teeth 

 possessed by some of the deer, are decidedly puzzling. 

 While absent, or vestigial, in most, in a few they are 

 greatly developed, and this, too, in species which 

 possess relatively large horns, as in the Muntjac. It 

 seems difficult to believe that the co-existence of 

 these very different kinds of weapons can be of 

 vital importance to their possessors ; yet unless this 



