106 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. [Part IL 



could be put on without catchinj^ his attention." " Mr. 

 Hewitt has carefully described the habits of some ducks 

 (recently descended from wild birds), which, at the ap- 

 proach of a strange dog or cat, would rush headlong into 

 the water, and exhaust themselves in their attempts to es- 

 cape ; but they knew so well Mr. Hewitt's own dogs and 

 cats that they would lie down and bask in the sun close to 

 them. They always moved away from a strange man, 

 and so they would from the lady who attended them if 

 she made any great change iu her dress. Audubon relates 

 that he reared and tamed a wild-turkey which always ran 

 away from any strange dog ; this bird escaped into the 

 woods, and some days afterward Audubon saw, as he 

 thought, a wild-turkey, and made his dog chase it ; but to 

 his astonishment, the bird did not run away, and the dog, 

 when he came up, did not attack the bird, for they mutu- 

 ally recognized each other as old friends.'^ 



Mr. Jenner Weir is convinced that birds pay particu- 

 lar attention to the colors of other birds, sometimes out of 

 jealousy, and sometimes as a sign of kinship. Thus he 

 turned a reed-bunting [Ember iza schcenlculus)^ which had 

 acquired its black head, into his aviary, and the new-comer 

 was not noticed by any bird, except by a bullfinch, which 

 is likewise black-headed. This bullfinch was a very quiet 

 bird, and had never before quarrelled with any of its com- 

 rades, including another reed-bunting, which had not as 

 yet become black-headed: but the reed-bunting with a 

 black head was so iininercifuUy treated, that it had to be 

 removed. Mr. Weir was also obliged to turn out a robin, 

 as it fiercely attacked all bii-ds with any red in their plu- 

 mage, but no other kinds; it actually killed a red-breasted 



>2 'The Zoologist,' 1 847-1848, p. 1602. 



" Hewitt on wild ducks, 'Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 13, 1863, p. 

 39. Audubon on the wild-turkey, 'Ornith. Biography,' vol. i. p. 14. On 

 the mocking thrush, ibid. vol. i. p. 110. 



