THE STILT-WALKERS. 



41 



No sooner however, has the period of incubation set in than the pacific disposition of these birds 

 appears to undergo a complete change, and the males commence a series of fierce encounters, arising 

 not merely from a feeling of rivalry or jealousy, but respecting such trifles as the possession of a 

 worm or the choice of a resting-place. AVhether in their native haunts or confined in a cage, and 

 whether females be concerned in the matter or not, the same restless desire to attack and injure each 

 other takes possession of the male birds, who, in their wild state, carry on their battles in regular 

 fighting-grounds, employed year after year for the same purpose. Moist and rather elevated spots are 



RUFFS FIGHTING. 



usually preferred, and to these a certain number of combatants resort daily, each as a rule having his 

 own peculiar place, whereon to take his stand till an enemy appears. Naumann states that until die 

 collar of the males has attained its full beauty they are not privileged to appear in die lists. No 

 sooner has a willing adversary come forward, than the excited couple rush upon each other, and 

 struggle on till one or both are exhausted, when they pause and return to their former standing-places, 

 to recover strength and breath for a second encounter. These strange battles are strictly duels, 

 although from the fact of two or three couples engaging at the same time, and that often in such a 

 limited space as to compel them to attack across each other, an ordinary spectator would often 

 imagine that he was witnessing a general mel£e, instead of the entirely distinct settlement of individual 

 wrongs and grievances. A more ridiculous sight could scarcely be imagined than the appearance of the 

 vol.. iv. — 124 



