362 THE DESCENT OP MAN. 



ways at each other, sometimes with fatal results. Thus also they 

 drive away other enemies." 



The season of love is that of battle; but the males of some 

 birds, as of the game-fowl and ruff, and even the young males of 

 the wild turkey and grouse," are ready to fight whenever they 

 meet. The presence of the female is the teterrima belli causa. 

 The Bengali baboos make the pretty little males of the amadavat 

 (Estrelda amandava) fight together by placing three small cages 

 in a row, with a female in the middle; after a little time the two 

 males are turned loose, and immediately a desperate battle en- 

 sues." When many males congregate at the same appointed spot 

 and fight together, as in the case of grouse and various other birds, 

 they are generally attended by the females,^" which afterwards 

 pair with the victorious combatants. But in some cases the pair- 

 ing precedes instead of succeeding the combat: thus according to 

 Audubon,^' several males of the Virginian goat-sucker (Caprimul- 

 gus virginianus) "court in a highly entertaining manner the fe- 

 "male and no sooner has she made her choice, than her approved 

 "gives chase to all intruders, and drives them beyond his domin- 

 "ions." Generally the males try to drive away or kill their rivals 

 before they pair. It does not, however, appear that the females 

 invariably prefer the victorious males. I have indeed been as- 

 sured by Dr. W. Kovalevsky that the female capercailzie some- 

 times steals away with a young male who has not dared to enter 

 the arena with the older cocks, in the same manner as occasionally 

 happens with the does of the red-deer in Scotland. When two 

 males contend in presence of a single female, the victor, no doubt, 

 commonly gains his desire; but some of these battles are caused by 

 wandering males trying to distract the peace of an already mated 

 pair.=^ 



Even with the most pugnacious species it is probable that the 



" See, on our peewit, Mr. R. Carr in 'Land and Water,' Aug. 8th, 

 1868, p. 46. In regard to Lobivanellus, see Jerdon's 'Birds of India,' 

 vol. iii. p. 647, and Gould's 'Handbook of Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. 

 p. 220. For the Holopterus, see Blr. Allen in the 'Ibis,' vol. v. 1863, p. 166. 



"Audubon, 'Ornith. Biography,' vol. ii. p. 492; vol. i. pp. 4-13. 



" Mr. BIyth, 'Land and Water,' 1867, p. 212. 



» Richardson on Tetrao umbellus 'Fauna Bor. Amer. : Birds,' 1831, 

 p. 343. L. Lloyd, 'Game Birds of Sweden,' 1867, pp. 22, 79, on the caper- 

 cailzie and black-cock. Brehm, however, asserts ('Thierleben,' &c., 

 B. iv. s. 352) that in Germany the gray-hens do not generally attend 

 the BaJzen of the black-cocks, but this is an exception to the common 

 rule; possibly the hens may lie hidden in the surrounding bushes, as 

 is known to be the case with the gray-liens in Scandinavia, and with 

 other species in N. America. 



=1 'Onithological Biography,' vol. ii. p. 275. 



2= Brehm. 'Thierleben,' &c., B. iv. 1867, p. 990. Audubon, 'Ornith. Bi- 

 ography,' vol. ii. p. 492. 



