Chap. XIII.] DISPLAY BY THE MALE. 93 



" unwieldly size " of the secondary wing-feathers of the 

 male Argus pheasant are said " almost entirely to deprive 

 the bird of flight." The fine plumes of male Birds of 

 Paradise trouble them during a high wind. The ex- 

 tremely long tail-feathers of the male widow-birds (Vidua) 

 of Southern Africa render " their flight heavy ; " but as 

 soon as these are cast off they fly as well as the females. 

 As birds always breed when food is abundant, the males 

 probably do not suffer much inconvenience in searching 

 for food from their impeded powers of movement ; but 

 there can hardly be a doubt that they must be much more 

 liable to be struck down by birds of prey. Nor can we 

 doubt that the long train of the peacock and the long tail 

 and wing feathers of the Argus pheasant must render 

 them a more easy prey to any prowling tiger-cat than 

 would otherwise be the case. Even the bright colors of 

 many male birds cannot fail to make them conspicuous to 

 their enemies of all kinds. Hence it probably is, as Mr, 

 Gould has remarked, that such birds are generally of a 

 shy disposition, as if conscious that their beauty was a 

 source of danger, and are much more diflicult to discover 

 or approach, than the sombre-colored and comparatively 

 tame females, or than the young and as yet unadorned 

 males.** 



It is a more curious fact that the males of some birds 

 which are provided with special weapons for battle, and 

 which in a state of nature are so pugnacious that they 

 often kill each other, suffer from possessing certain orna- 



** On the Cosmetornis, see Livingstone's ' Expedition to the Zambesi,' 

 1865, p. 66. On the Argus pheasant, Jardine's 'Nat. Hist. Lib. : Birds,' 

 vol. xiv. p. 167. On Birds of Paradise, Lesson, quoted by Brehm, 

 ' Thierleben,' B. iii. s. 325. On the widow-bird, Barrow's ' Travels in 

 Africa,' vol. i. p. 243, and 'Ibis,' vol. iii. 1861, p. 133. Mr. Gould on 

 the shyness of male birds, 'Hand-book to Birds of Australia,' vol i. 1865, 

 pp. 210, 457. 



