396 THE DESCENT OP MAN. 



solely for display, as some birds do so whose wings are not beau- 

 tiful. This is the case with the domestic cock, but it Is always 

 the wing on the side opposite to the female which Is expanded, 

 and at the same time scraped on the ground. The male goldfinch 

 behaves differently from all other finches; his wings are beau- 

 tiful, the shoulders being black, with the dark-tipped wing-feath- 

 ers spotted with white and edged with golden yellow. When he 

 courts the female, he sways his body from side to side, and 

 quickly turns his slightly expanded wings first to one side, then 

 to the other, with a golden flashing effect. Mr. Weir informs me 

 that no other British finch turns thus from side to side during 

 his courtship, not even the closely-allied male siskin, for he 

 would not thus add to his beauty. 



Most of the British Buntings are plain colored birds; but in the 

 spring the feathers on the head of the male reed-bunting (Bm- 

 beriza schceniculus) acquire a fine black color by the abrasion of 

 the dusky tips; and these are erected during the act of courtship. 

 Mr. Weir has kept two species of Amadina from Australia: the 

 A. castanotis is a very small and chastely colored finch, with a 

 dark tail, white rump, and jet-black upper tail-coverts, each of 

 the latter being marked with three large conspicuous oval spots 

 of whlte.'^ This species, when courting the female, slightly 

 spreads out and vibrates these parti-colored tail-coverts in a very 

 peculiar manner. The male Amadina Lathami behaves very dif- 

 ferently, exhibiting before the female his brilliantly spotted 

 breast, scarlet rump, and scarlet upper tail-coverts. I may here 

 add from Dr. Jerdon that the Indian bulbul (Pycnonotus hasmor- 

 rhous) has its under tall-coverts of a crimson color, and these, it 

 might be thought, could never be well exhibited; but the bird 

 "when excited often spreads them out laterally, so that they can be 

 "seen even from above.""^ The crimson under tail-coverts of some 

 other birds, as with one of the woodpeckers, Picus major, can be 

 seen without any such display. The common pigeon has iridescent 

 feathers on the breast, and every one must have seen how the male 

 inflates his breast, whilst courting the female, thus showing them 

 off to the best advantage. One of the beautiful bronze-winged pig- 

 eons of Australia (Ocyphaps lophotes) behaves, as described to me 

 by Mr. Weir, very differently: the male, whilst standing before 

 the female, lowers his head almost to the ground, spreads out 

 and raises his tail, and half expands his wings. He then alter- 

 nately and slowly raises and depresses his body, so that the 

 iridescent metallic feathers are all seen at once, and glitter in 

 the sun. 



w For the description of these birds, see Gould's 'Handbook to the 

 Birds of Australia,' vol. i. 1865, p. 417. 

 " 'Birds of India,' vol. ii. p. 96. 



