64 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 
if they are beaten in the fight, it will be called 
sacrificing. 
There is another parental instinct, commonly 
found in birds, which may be called an attract- 
ing instinct. It consists of unusual and con- 
spicuous movements whose object is to distract 
an enemy from their young and entice it to 
attack the parents; these are often described 
as feints because the birds appear to pretend 
to have broken legs or wings, or to be other- 
wise wounded and crippled. By these attract- 
ing instincts the parents draw an enemy’s 
attack, and having accomplished this, then 
make good their own escape. During these 
feints, several ways of making themselves 
conspicuous are utilised: bright colours are 
displayed ; wings, wherein are bright bars, are 
opened ; tails containing white feathers are 
spread ; breasts or backs are turned, according 
as they are brightly coloured, towards the 
enemy. Strange forms are assumed ; combs 
are erected, tails spread, wings opened and 
necks thrown out; and conspicuous sounds 
are made. By these and other methods, 
parents make themselves conspicuous. 
When pre-copulatory displays are considered, it will be 
shown what a close similarity there is between these 
parental displays, these attracting instincts, and the dis- 
