Courtship 



his day-dreams. Then the hunt begins again, and the 

 performance is repeated many times, till, eventually, 

 doggedness has its reward and the ruff wins his lady- 

 love. 



The ruffs are not the only birds that select the chill 

 hour of sunrise for their amatory displays ; prairie hens 

 hold meetings at the same hour. The cocks and hens 

 collect together at some spot which is evidently pre- 

 arranged and the performance commences with a display 

 of finery by the males, who are adept at exhibiting them- 

 selves to the best advantage. Shall we call them the 

 mannequins of the bird world ? Up and down they strut 

 for the admiration of the hens. But this dilatory parade 

 soon becomes wearisome to the excited males ; so, to 

 enliven the proceedings, they rush pell-mell amongst their 

 admirers, uttering loud cries the while. As the sun 

 arises well above the horizon, the party breaks up, but 

 the performance is repeated morning after morning 

 for, maybe, a fortnight. Towards the end of this time 

 the friendly rivalry of the males gives place to fierce 

 competition for the favours of the hens and eventually to 

 fighting. 



The peacock displaying his tail coverts in the presence 

 of his mate is merely showing her what a fine fellow he 

 is, and it must be admitted that he makes out a very good 

 case for himself. With his body inclined forwards, and 

 his brilliant tail coverts thrown over his wings so that 

 only they and his head and neck appear from the front, 

 he makes a brave show, which his spouse does not always 

 fully appreciate, in fact we have seen her making up to 

 another male at the time, totally disregarding the ex- 

 hibition prepared for her benefit. While he is actually 

 courting his wife, he is rude enough to walk backwards 

 towards her, and not without reason. His back view is 

 sombre in tjie extreme compared with the other side of 

 the picture. When close to his mate, he wheels round 

 with astonishing rapidity and faces her, and, as though 



159 



