-6o ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



almost invariably the result. Rooks will fight 

 in the early spring with such fierceness as to 

 kill each other ; I have known Robins do the 

 same. Even the proverbially gentle Dove is 

 pugnacious in the pairing season, and the meeting 

 of rival males at certain times is sure to end in 

 battle. Sparrows are exceptionally pugnacious, 

 and though the fights seldom result in more than 

 the loss of a few feathers, they are carried on 

 with most amusing vigour and fierceness. The 

 antics and grotesque attitudes displayed and 

 assumed by many birds, either in their fighting 

 arenas, or before the females in other places, is 

 very interesting. Some birds strut about in all 

 the pomp and pride of their brilliant dress ; others 

 gambol in the air, or run to and fro puffed out 

 with amorous excitement; many erect their crests, 

 and distend their brilliantly-coloured wattles to 

 the best advantage yet all have the same great 

 end in view, the attraction of the opposite sex. 



The various ornaments of birds and their 

 powers of song certainly assume a greater and 

 a higher interest when we associate them with 

 the well-being of their possessors. Vital, indeed, 

 is the importance of these characteristics ; beauty 

 of structure and harmony of sound have each 

 been evolved on purely utilitarian principles. New 

 and ever-increasing interest, therefore, attaches 

 to the love and courtship of the feathered tribes ; 

 for verily these actions have a most important 

 bearing upon some of the highest questions affect- 

 ing organic life. 



