LAW OF BATTLE. 



361 



however, the wing-spurs must be considered as a 

 sexual character. Thus in the male of our common 

 peewit (Vanellus cristatus) the tubercle on the shoulder 

 of the wing becomes more prominent during the breeding-season, 

 and the males fight together. In some species of Lobivanellus 

 a similar tubercle becomes developed during the breeding-season 

 "into a short horny spur." In the Australian L. lobatus both sexes 



Fig. 38. Palamedea cornuta (from Brehm), showing- the double wing- 

 spurs, and the filament on the head. 



have spurs, but these are much larger in the males than in the 

 females. In an allied bird, the Hopiopterus armatus, the spurs 

 do not increase in size during the breeding-season; but these birds 

 have been seen in Egypt to iight together, in the same manner 

 as our peewits, by turning suddenly in the air and striking side- 



medea, Brehm's 'Thierlehen,' E. iv. s. 740. See, also, on this bird 

 Azara, 'Voyag-es dans I'Amerique merid.' torn. iv. 1809, pp. 179, 253. 



