114 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. [Part IL 



of his Inrils witli magenta, but they were not much no- 

 ticed by the others. 



Female pigeons occasionally feel a strong antipathy 

 toward certain males, without any assignable cause. 

 Thus MM. Boitard and Corbie, whose experience ex- 

 tended over forty-five years, state : " Quand une feraelle 

 <iprouve de I'antipathie pour un male avec lequel on veut 

 I'accoupler, malgre tous les feux de I'amour, malgre I'al- 

 piste et le ch^nevis dont on la nourrit pour augmenter son 

 ardeur, malgre un em])iisonnement de six mois et m6me 

 d'un an, elle refuse constamment ses caresses ; les avances 

 empi-essees, les agaceries, les tournoiemens, les tendres 

 roucoulemens, rien ne peut lui plaire ni I'emouvoir ; gonflee, 

 boudense, blottie dans un coin de sa prison, elle n'en sort 

 que pour boire et manger, ou pour repousser avec une 

 esp^cc de rage des caresses devenues trop pressantes." " 

 On the other hand, Mr. Harrison Weir has himself ob- 

 served, and has heard from several breeders, that a female 

 pigeon will occasionally take a strong fancy for a particu- 

 lar male, and will desert her own mate for him. Some 

 females, according to anotlier experienced observer, Rie- 

 del,^' are of a profligate disposition, and ])refer almost any 

 stranger to their own mate. Some amorous males, called 

 by our Englisli fanciers " gay birds," are so successful in 

 their gallantries, that, as Mr. II. "Weir informs me, they 

 must be shut up, on account of the mischief which they 

 cause. 



Wild-turkeys in the United States, according to Au- 

 dubon, " sometimes pay their addresses to the domesti- 

 cated females, and are generally received by them with 



22 Boitard and Corbie, 'Les Pigeons,' 1824, p. 12. Prosper Lucas 

 ('Trait6 de I'llered. Nat.' tome ii. 1850, p. 29»)) lias hirasell" observed 

 nearly similar facts with pigeons. 



" 'Die Taubenzucht,' 1824, s. 86. 



