156 POULTRY AND GAME BIRDS. 



peculiar, racket-shaped feathers ; the domestic Cock a 

 fleshy comb and wattles ; the Turkey an extensile red 

 nose, while some of the Pheasants have beautiful 

 crests. To come to colour, that mixture which is 

 known as " game," is very much in vogue. It con- 

 sists of light upon dark shades of brown, in bars, 

 or borders, or little splashes, or fine wavy lines, a 

 sort of tartan, always the same in character, but 

 varying in detail with each clan. This is the costume 

 of Quails and Partridges and many others through 

 life, and it is characteristic of the young of all, or 

 almost all. But the aristocracy of the race, the 

 Peafowls and Pheasants and Jungle Cocks, when 

 they come of age, are apparelled with an extravagance 

 of splendour which no other race of bird can ap- 

 proach, except the Humming Birds. This finery is 

 usually the peculiar badge of the male. The other 

 sex is attired with modesty, though always taste- 

 fully and often beautifully. This is doubtless con- 

 nected with another point in which these birds differ 

 from Pigeons, namely, that they are nearly all 

 polygamists. To win a harem and keep it is for them 

 success in life. To this end the young beau must 

 dress and strut and dance and bow and scrape and 

 practise all the arts that enslave the female heart, 

 and he must fight too. Almost all the birds of this 

 order are armed with spurs on their legs and practise 

 the art of fence from their very chicken-hood. If one 

 has a harem it follows that many must do without 

 wives. These are the unsuccessful, which go about 

 alone, moody and resentful, trying to sow dissension 

 in the homes of the more lucky, sometimes getting 

 thrashed for their pains and sometimes thrashing the 



