39g THE DESCENT OP MAN. 



It is a more curious fact that the males of some birds which 

 are provided with special weapons for battle, and which in a 

 state of nature are so pugnacious that they often kill each other, 

 suffer from possessing certain ornaments. Cock-fighters trim the 

 hackles and cut off the combs and gills of their cocks; and the 

 birds are then said to be dubbed. An undubbed bird, as Mr. 

 Tegetmeier insists, "is at a fearful disadvantage; the comb and 

 "gills offer an easy hold to his adversary's beak, and as a cock 

 "always strikes where he holds, when once he has seized his foe, 

 "he has him entirely in his power. Even supposing that the 

 "bird is not killed, the loss of blood suffered by an undubbed 

 "cock is much greater than that sustained by one that has been 

 "trimmed."" Young turkey-cocks in fighting always seize hold 

 of each other's wattles; and I presume that the old birds fight in 

 the same manner. It may perhaps be objected that the comb 

 and wattles are not ornamental, and cannot be of service to the 

 birds in this way; but even to our eyes, the beauty of the glossy 

 black Spanish cock is much enhanced by his white face and 

 crimson comb; and no one who has ever seen the splendid blue 

 wattles of the male Tragopan pheasant, distended in courtship, 

 can for a moment doubt that beauty is the object gained. Prom 

 the foregoing facts we clearly see that the plumes and other 

 ornaments of the males must be of the highest importance to 

 them; and we further see that beauty is even sometimes more 

 important than success in battle. 



" Tegetmeier, 'The Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 13S. 



