IIG SEXUAL SELECTION: BIRDS. [Part IL 



by a rival, who got the upper hand and afterward led the 

 flock. 



Not only docs the female exert a choice, but in some 

 few cases she courts the male, or even fights for his pos- 

 session. Sir R. Heron states that, with peafowl, the first 

 advances are always made by the female ; something of 

 the same kind takes place, according to Audubon, with 

 the older females of the wild-turkey. With the caper- 

 cailzie, the females flit round the male, while he is parad- 

 ing at one of the places of assemblage, and solicit his 

 attention."* We have seen that a tame wild-duck seduced 

 after a long courtship an unwilling Pintail drake. Mr. 

 Bartlett believes that the Lophophorus, like many other 

 gallinaceous birds, is naturally polygamous, but two 

 females cannot be placed in the same cage with a male, as 

 they fight so much together. The following instance ot 

 rivalry is more surprising as it relates to bullfinches, which 

 usually pair for life. Mr. Jenner Weir introduced a dull- 

 colored and ugly female into his aviary, and she immedi- 

 ately attacked another mated female so unmercifully that 

 the latter had to be separated. The new female did all 

 the courtship, and was at last successful, for she paired 

 with the male; but after a time she met with a just re- 

 tribution, for, ceasing to be pugnacious, Mr. Weir replaced 

 the old female, and the male then deserted his new and 

 returned to his old love. 



In all ordinary cases the male is so eager that he will 

 accept any female, and does not, as far as we can judge, 

 prefer one to the other ; but exceptions to this rule, as we 

 siiall hereafter see, apparently occur in some few groups. 

 W^ith domesticated birds, I have heard of only one case in 



'8 In regard to peafowl, see Sir R. Heron, 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc' 1835, 

 p. 54, and the Rev. E. S. Dixon, ' Ornamentdl Poultry,' 1848, p. 8. For 

 tlie turkey, Audubon, ibid. p. 4. For the capercailzie, Lloyd, 'Game- 

 Birds of Sweden,' 1867, p. 23. 



