BIRDS. 477 



oases thev court the male, or even fight together for his 

 possession. Sir R. Heron states that with peafowl the first 

 advances are always made by the female; something of the 

 same kind takes place, according to Audubon, with the 

 older females of the wild turkey. With the capercailzie, 

 the females flit round the male while he is parading at one 

 of the places of assemblage and solicit his attention.* We 

 have seen that a tame wild duck seduced an unwilling pin- 

 tail drake after a long courtship. Mr. Bartlett believes 

 that the Lophophorus, like many other gallinaceous birds, 

 is naturally polygamous, but two females cannot be placed 

 in the same cage with a male as they fight so much 

 together. The following instance of rivalry is more sur- 

 prising as it relates to bullfinches, which usually pair for 

 life. Mr. Jenner Weir introduced a dull-colored and ugly 

 female into his aviary and she immediately attacked 

 another mated female so unmercifully that the latter had 

 to be separated. The new female did all the courtship, 

 and was at last successful, for she paired with the male; 

 but after a time she met with a just retribution, for, ceas- 

 ing to be pugnacious, she was replaced by the old female, 

 and the male then deserted his new and returned to his old 

 love. 



In all ordinary cases the male is so eager that he will 

 accept any female, and does not, as far as we can judge, 

 prefer one to the other; but, as we shall hereafter see, 

 exceptions to this rule apparently occur in some few 

 groups. With domesticated birds I have heard of only one 

 case of males showing any preference for certain females, 

 namely, that of the domestic cock, who, according to the 

 high authority of Mr. Hewitt, prefers the younger to the 

 older hens. On the other hand, in effecting hybrid unions 

 between the male pheasant and common hens, Mr. Hewitt is 

 convinced that the pheasant invariably prefers the older 

 birds. He does not appear to be in the least influenced by 

 their color; but "is most capricious in his attachments;" f 

 from some inexplicable cause he shows the most determined 



*In regard to peafowl, see Sir R. Heron, "Proc. Zoolog. Soc.," 

 1835, p. 54, and the Rev. E. S. Dixon, "Ornamental Poultry," 1848, 



&8. For the turkey, Audubon, ibid, p. 4. For the capercailzie, 

 oyd, " Game Birds of Sweden," 1867, p. 23. 



fMr, Hewitt, quoted in " Tegetrneier's Poultry Book" 1866, p 

 165. 



