64 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 



if they are beaten in the fight, it will be called 

 sacrificing. 



There is another parental instinct, commonly 

 found in birds, which may be called an attract- 

 ing instinct. It consists of unusual and con- 

 spicuous movements whose object is to distract 

 an enemy from their young and entice it to 

 attack the parents ; these are often described 

 as feints because the birds appear to pretend 

 to have broken legs or wings, or to be other- 

 wise wounded and crippled. By these attract- 

 ing instincts the parents draw an enemy's 

 attack, and having accomplished this, then 

 make good their own escape. During these 

 feints, several ways of making themselves 

 conspicuous are utilised : bright colours are 

 displayed ; wings, wherein are bright bars, are 

 opened ; tails containing white feathers are 

 spread ; breasts or backs are turned, according 

 as they are brightly coloured, towards the 

 enemy. Strange forms are assumed ; combs 

 are erected, tails spread, wings opened and 

 necks thrown out ; and conspicuous sounds 

 are made. By these and other methods, 

 parents make themselves conspicuous. 



When pre-copulatory displays are considered, it will be 

 shown what a close similarity there is between these 

 parental displays, these attracting instincts, and the dis- 



