168 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



and on the elaboration of the most elegant 

 patterns. Many will declare that it is utterly 

 incredible that a female bird should be able to 

 appreciate fine shading and exquisite patterns. 

 It is, undoubtedly, a marvellous fact that she 

 should possess this almost human degree of 

 taste, though perhaps she admires the general 

 effect rather than each separate detail. He who 

 thinks that he can safely gauge the discrimination 

 and taste of the lower animals may den}' that the 

 female Argus pheasant can appreciate such refined 

 beauty ; but he will then be compelled to admit 

 that the extraordinary attitudes assumed by 

 the male during the act of courtship, by which 

 the wonderful beauty of his plumage is fully 

 displayed, are purposeless ; and this is a 

 conclusion which I for one will never admit." 



Science, too, was brought to bear on such 

 practical points as how best to kill birds and 

 ground game — best because surest and most 

 merciful, avoiding the cruelty of " tailing " 

 pheasants or breaking a rabbit's hind leg and 

 letting it die slowly in its burrow — neither 

 pheasant nor rabbit being bagged. Thus, in an 

 article in the Field on the vulnerable parts of 

 game, Tegetmeier shows that the instantly dis- 

 abling shots are those which hit the brain, spinal 

 cord, the heart and larger arteries, or fracture 

 the bones of the wings of the bird. The most 

 vital parts in a flying pheasant that may be hit 



