650 MR. J. S. HUXLEY ON THE 



remaining motionless. Again at any time during this stage she 

 may reject his suit by flying off, but if she is going to accept him, 

 she simply stays still, often without moving a muscle the whole 

 time. 



As the cock gets closer, he gets more and more excited, vibrates 

 his wings more and more rapidly, at length so fast that almost 

 his whole weight is supported by them, though he still continues 

 to execute the high-stepping movements with liis feet. At last, 

 when just behind the hen, he abandons the ground, and flutters up 

 on to her back, on which he half alights. The period while he 

 is thus on her back is the third and last stage of the courtship : 

 it is very short, and is of course in a sense nothing more than 

 getting into the proper position for the actual pairing. But it 

 should still be called part of the courtship, for even now the cock 

 is not assured of his desire. Sometimes the hen, suddenly repug- 

 nant, or annoyed by the series of shriller, less continuous cries 

 which the cock is now uttering, gives a violent jerk or sideways 

 twist, and shakes him forcibly off on to the ground, herself 

 running or flying away. 



Occasionally, however, she apparently is satisfied ; she spreads 

 her tail diagonally, and the cock, with a quick and wonderfully 

 graceful motion, half supported all the time by his fluttering 

 Avings, accomplishes the act of pairing. Then the hen gives 

 the same violent twist that I have jusfc mentioned, he gets shaken 

 off, and they both begin quietly feeding, often side by side, but 

 now no longer taking the least interest in each other. 



That the course of true love should run so smooth was, how- 

 ever, quite the exception. Though I did not keep a record of 

 the number of unsuccessful cocks that came under my observa- 

 tion, there must have been at the lowest estimate fifty of them, 

 while but three times did I see the courtship consummated. 

 Thus in something well over 90 per cent, of the cases I saw, 

 pairing did not take place ; and this was always due to the rejec- 

 tion of the male by the female, as the cock, once he had started a 

 pursuit, never of his own accord abandoned it. Thus, though the 

 hen does not actively select her mate from among a bevy of 

 competing cocks, yet, like the modern European woman, she has 

 the power of saying yes or no to each individual male who 

 may choose (here literally, there metaphorically) to run after 

 her. 



The hen may reject her suitor at any time during the whole 

 proceeding. On the one hand, I have seen her break off the 

 courtship after a few seconds, while on the other I have seen her 

 stop still after running, stand and watch the cock's display 

 antl gradual approach, even let him fly up on to her back, and 

 only then with a sudden jerk throw him off and take to flight. 

 Between these extremes there were, of course, all intermediates. 

 During the first or pursuit sta,ge, rejection was accomplished by 

 the hen simply taking wing and flying oft* some fifty or a hundred 



