CHAPTER IV. 



BIRD ORNAMENTS AND TOURNAMENTS. 



No other season of the year is so appropriate as 

 spring for studying the various nuptial ornaments 

 of birds, and the strange antics and battles the 

 birds themselves engage in during the days of 

 their courtship. The researches of ornithologists 

 during recent years have shown the inseparable 

 affinity between Beauty and Utility ; the two 

 subjects are practically synonymous. According 

 to the old philosophy, Beauty existed for its own 

 sake ; it had no ulterior object or use beyond 

 increasing the grandeur of the universe and 

 gratifying the eye of man. But Beauty has not 

 been acquired or developed aimlessly or in vain. 

 Nature is far too conservative to permit such 

 lavish waste ; and we may rest assured that every 

 spot on the wings of the butterfly, every spangle 

 on the Humming Bird, every refulgent plume of 

 bird, and gorgeous tint of shell and flower, have 

 been developed for a purpose. So far as birds 

 are concerned, this beauty of plume and feathered 

 ornament is correlated with the function of re- 



