CHAPTER XIII 

 COURTSHIP 



COURTSHIP and animal ingenuity, how can they be recon- 

 ciled ? A little time spent in the consideration of a few 

 examples of courtship amongst birds and some beasts 

 will supply the best answer to our question. The court- 

 ing swain, about to visit his sweetheart, doffs his working 

 clothes if he be a wise man and dons his Sunday best, 

 which, though probably of more striking appearance, 

 frequently do not befit him so well as his workaday garb. 

 She on her part is lavish with her finery, according to her 

 means and taste; her favourite perfume, too, is not forgotten. 

 The young couple sometimes they are old and then they 

 are more foolish bedeck themselves thus that they may 

 appear more attractive in the eyes of their respective 

 lovers. Savages suffer from the same complaint in more 

 or less acute form and the habit has its counterpart in the 

 animal world. 



Finery, sometimes grotesque in its extravagance, scent, 

 weird antics, all- play their parts in the attempt to attract 

 the opposite sex. The weaver-birds, builders of curious 

 flask-shaped nests, in winter-time are no more brightly 

 attired than sparrows ; but when the male is about to 

 take a mate he assumes gorgeous raiment which renders 

 him an Adonis among birds in the eyes of the hen. The 

 cock wydah birds at this season develop tails of such un- 

 wieldy proportions that flight is rendered difficult, and for 

 the same reason. 



Song also plays its part in the amorous competition. 

 True, the lovers' notes are not always pleasing to human 

 ears, but they are evidently enchanting to the hen birds. 

 The cuckoo is a case in point. When he seeks a mate his 



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