NATURAL HISTORY NOTES 43 



downwards with his puny spurs at his 

 opponent's head. This is but a make- 

 beHeve ; the buttons are still on the foils ; 

 only with March come the true combats 

 of the males, shorter and sharper affairs 

 altogether, in which the loser often takes 

 serious hurt from the formidable spurs of 

 an adult antagonist. 



It was for long matter of regular belief 

 that at this time of year the cocks sought 

 out the hens, and — as a natural corollary — 

 that any coverts with a sufficient stock of 

 hens had all the essentials of success in 

 the nesting season. The close and careful 

 observation of more recent years has 

 served to bring the truth of this assump- 

 tion into question ; the matter is not set 

 beyond doubt, but to say that where the 

 cocks were gathered together, there the 

 hens would be found also, is probably at 

 least as near the truth as the reverse. 



Having by dint of arms won his right 

 to sire his race, the cock walks all day 

 with the four or five hens of his choice, 

 stopping every now and then with low 



