4 i2 THE WONDER OF LIFE 



musical talent, and so forth before the senses of their 

 desired mates. 



Mr. W. P. Pycraft's recently published charming 

 volume on The Courtship of Animals gives an admirable 

 discussion of the whole subject, with a wealth of fresh in- 

 stances, and we shall not do more than recall a few pictures. 

 Stag fights with stag till they drip with blood ; the rival 



FIG. 62. Male Spiders (Zygoballus) fighting. (After Prof, and Mrs. 

 Peckham.) 



sea-lions slash with their great canines at one another's 

 necks, making long wounds, as the scars show for many a 

 day ; the cock capercailzies fight in the early spring and 

 the snow is spotted with their blood; the blackcock's 

 tournaments at dawn are revelations of mingled passion 

 and pride ; the polygamous ruffs fight hour after hour with- 

 out wounds, and mingle their pugnacity with an extra- 

 ordinary self-abandonment ; male spiders have similarly 

 bloodless battles. When there is actual elimination of the 



