COURTSHIP AND MAERIAGE. 481 



ship of the males by the females occurs in the cassowary 

 (Darwin). Where she plays the part of the male through- 

 out, she exhibits all the worst of his passions, such as 

 rivalry, jealousy, and ferocity. This rivalry and jealousy 

 lead to frequent battles for the possession of the male 

 just as is more commonly the case among males for the 

 capture of the female. The struggles of these Amazon rivals 

 are sometimes characterised by the same mercilessness that 

 is exhibited when the furious male is the combatant ; and 

 the ferocity displayed is occasionally such that death is the 

 result in the unsuccessful. 



By no means unfrequently the females take the first step 

 in love-making by their solicitation, by the various wiles 

 they practise on impressionable males, which are the same 

 in character as those so familiar in their human sisters, and 

 the object of which wiles is the same in both cases the 

 attraction of the attentions of the males. 



