COURTSHIP AMONG BIRDS 117 



Among the game-birds, however, powerful armature, 

 in the shape of long, pointed, spurs on the legs are met 

 with. In the Jungle-fowls and Pheasants only a single 

 pair are found on each leg, but in other species, as in 

 the Francolins, there are several pairs, and these birds, 

 it is instructive to notice, are notorious for the ferocity 

 of their encounters. It is said that in the Indian Swamp- 

 Francolin {Francolinus gularis) nearly every individual 

 is marked by scars and wounds received in duels with 

 rivals. 



Certain members of the Plover-tribe, and certain 

 Anserine birds, have developed spurs of a very formidable 

 character on the wings. Among the Plover-tribe the 

 best example of such armoured species is the Egyptian 

 Spur-winged Plover (HoplopUrus). This bird, after the 

 fashion of its unarmoured relatives, such as the Common 

 Lapwing, fights by turning suddenly in the air and 

 striking with the wings. In the case of the formidably 

 armed Egyptian bird the result is often fatal ; but with 

 our Lapwing a fatal result is rare, since but slightly 

 swollen knobs take the place of spurs. In Hoplopterus 

 and in the Jacana this spur arises from the base of the 

 thumb, but in the Spur-winged Goose (PlectropUrus) 

 it is borne by one of the wrist bones (the radial) while 

 in the aberrant Geese-like birds (Palamedea and 

 Chauna) there are two spurs on each wing, one at 

 each end of the metacarpus. That these weapons have 

 come into being in response to need seems a very natural 

 conclusion, but it is one which presents many difficulties 

 when more closely examined. > The wing spurs, differing 

 widely in their nature as they do, in one case borne on 

 a carpal bone, in others on the metacarpus, seem rather 

 to owe their origin to fortuitous variations which have 



