22 SEX-LORE 



The singing is chiefly confined to the male birds, and 

 serves to allure the females during the mating season. 

 The song contests often go on among the males until 

 some of them drop from sheer exhaustion. 



But courtship among birds is by no means restricted 

 to such peaceful contests as described. Not only do 

 big birds of prey fight each other for the possession 

 of the females, but even among smaller birds the 

 pugnacious instinct is very frequent. Some species are 

 furnished with special weapons, such as spurs, etc., 

 for this purpose. The ordinary farmyard cock is an 

 example: he can brook no rival; his quarrelsomeness 

 is proverbial. 



As we ascend to the higher animals, such as cattle, 

 deer, the dog and cat tribes, elephants, etc., we find 

 that brute force prevails among the males as a method 

 of procuring the females, and that most of them are 

 furnished with special weapons for this purpose. 

 Thus some animals fight with their fangs, or possess 

 special tusks, as does, for instance, the wild boar. 

 Where both sexes have tusks, they are generally larger 

 in the male; an example is the elephant. A good many 

 animals have horns or antlers (Fig. 14). Even where 

 the females possess horns, these are usually less de- 

 veloped than in the males. Stags are known to fight 

 ferociously for possession of the females, both rivals 

 sometimes losing their lives in the fierce struggle. 

 The antlers of the deer develop annually, ready for 

 the mating season, which in this instance is in the 

 autumn and are afterwards shed, being renewed 

 every spring with an additional point. The stags 

 make a roaring noise in order to attract the females 

 (Fig. 15). In the majority of higher species, how- 



