192 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



left the egg, all idea of raising a second family is laid 

 aside, and the chickless mother joins company with the 

 first similarly-situated unfortunate she may chance to 

 meet. Odd hen-birds, when found by the sportsman, 

 are frequently supposed to be barren, but in nine 

 instances out of ten, I am satisfied that some luckless 

 cur dog, mink, or weasel deserves the onus for the poor 

 bird's broodless lot. 



About the end of March the large flocks begin 

 to break up and divide into parties of twenty or thirty, 

 each detachment selecting a knoll on which to exhibit 

 their fascinations to the fair sex or select partners. 

 On the first glint of dawn the males utter their 

 war-cry, and either wait to receive their rivals, in 

 love, or swiftly wing their way to accept the challenge 

 of some distant gallant. The fiercest battles now 

 ensue ; * nor is it only between two, for sometimes 

 a dozen may be observed engaged in the melee, each 

 fearlessly attacking his nearest neighbour, rising and 

 striking with the wings and feet much after the man- 

 ner of domestic poultry, when feathers fly and severe 

 and numerous injuries are received, till the weaker, 

 finding their strength inadequate to the trial, reluc- 

 tantly retire, and some old veteran alone remains, 

 exhausted and war-stained, to make selection of his 

 future mate. Often have the birds been found, 

 after these contests, so exhausted that they were 

 scarcely able to rise off the ground or avoid the 

 traveller's feet. And well do the hawks know their 

 enfeebled condition after such tournaments, and are 



* Until a late date I believed these battles were a description of 

 tournament, in fact, all for show. However, this is not the case, and 

 numbers of the combatants get severely injured. 



