Chap. XIII. Display by the Male. 403 



The various ornaments possessed by the males are certainly 

 tif the highest importance to them, for in some cases they have 

 lieen acquired at the expense of greatly impeded powers of 

 flight or of running. The African night-jar (Cosmetornis), which 

 during the pairing-season has one of its primary wing-feathers 

 developed into a streamer of very great length, is thereby much 

 rotarded in its flight, although at other times remarkable for its 

 swiftness. The " unwieldy size " of the secondary wing-feathers 

 of the male Argus pheasant are said " almost entirely to deprive 

 " the bird of flight." The fine plumes of male birds of paradise 

 trouble them during a high wind. The extremely long tail- 

 feathers of the male widow-birds (Vidua) of Southern Africa 

 render " their flight heavy ; " but as soon as these are cast off 

 they fly as well as the females. As birds always breed when 

 food is abundant, the males probably do not suffer much in- 

 convenience in searching for food from their impeded powers 

 of movement ; but there can hardly be a doubt that they must 

 be much more liable to be struck down by birds of prey. Nor 

 can we doubt that the long traia of the peacock and the long 

 tail and wing-feathers of the Argus pheasant must render them 

 an easier prey uo any prowHng tiger-cat, than would otherwise 

 be the case. Even the bright colours of many male birds cannot 

 fail to make them conspicuous to their enemies of all kinds. 

 Hence, as Mr. Gould has remarked, it probably is that such 

 birds are generally of a shy disposition, as if conscious that their 

 beauty was a source of danger, and are much more difficult 

 to discover 01 approach, than the sombre coloured and compa- 

 ratively tame females, or than the young and as yet unadorned 

 males.'' 



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, 

 sufier from possessing certain ornaments. Cock-fighters trim 

 the hackles and cut off the combs and giUs of their cooks ; 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 cook 

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



" On the Cosmetornis, see Living- widow-bird, Barrow's ' Travels in 

 itone's ' Expedition to the Zambesi,' Africa,' vol. i. p. 243, and ' Ibis,' 

 1865, p. 66. On the Argus pheasant, rol. iii. 1861, p. 133. Mr. Gould, 

 Jardine's 'Nat. Hist. Lib.: Birds,' on the shyness of male birds, ' Hand- 

 vol, xiv. p. 167. On Birds of book to Birds of Australia,' vol. i 

 Paradise, Lesson, quoted by Brehm, 1865, pp. 210. 457. 

 ' Thierleben.' U. iii. =. 325. On th» 



