Uy The Descent of Man. Paet 11. 



many i\-ecks with a silver (i.e., very pale bhic) male, and at last 

 mated witli him. Nevertheless, as a general rule, colour appears 

 to have little influence on the pairing of pigeons. Mr. Toget- 

 meier, at my request, stained some of hip birds with magenta, 

 but they were not much noticed by the others. 



Female pigeons occasionally feel a strong antipathy towards 

 oortain males, without any assignable cause. Thus MM. Boitard 

 and Corbie, whose experience extended over forty-five years. 

 state : " Quand une femelle eprouve de I'antipatbie pour un 

 " male avec lequel on veut I'accoupler, malgre tous les feux 

 " de I'amour, malgre I'alpiste et le chenevis dont on la nourrit 

 " pour augmenter son ardeur, malgre un emprisonnemcnt de 

 " six mois et meme d'un an, elle refuse constamment ses 

 " caresses; los avances empressees, les agaceries, les tournnio- 

 " mens, les tendres roucoulemens, rien ne pent lui plaire ni 

 " I'emouvoir ; gonfiee, boudeuse, blottie dans un coin de sa 

 " prison, elle n'en sort que pour boire et manger, ou pour rc- 

 " pousser avec une espece de rage des caresses de venues trop pres- 

 " santes.'"'^ On the other hand, Mr. Harrison Weir has himself 

 observed, and has heard from several breeders, that a female 

 pigeon will occasionally take a strong fancy for a particular male, 

 and will desert her own mate for him. Some females, accord- 

 ing to another experienced observer, Eiedel,^* are of a profligate 

 disposition, and prefer almost any stranger to their own mate. 

 Some amorous males, called by our English fanciers " gay 

 birds," are so successful in their gallantries, that, as Mr. H. 

 Weir informs me, they must be shut up on account of tht 

 mischief which they cause. 



Wild turkeys in the United States, according to Audubon, 

 " sometimes pay their addresses to the domesticated females, 

 ■' and are generally received by them with great pleasure." So that 

 these females apparently prefer the wild to their own males.^ 



Here is a more curious case. Sir E. Heron during many years 

 kept an account of the habits of the peafowl, which he bred in 

 large numbers. He states that " the bens have frequently great 

 " preference to a particular peacock. They were all so fond 

 " of an old pied cock, that one year, when he was confined 

 " though still in view, they were constantly assembled close to 

 " the trollioe-walls of his prison, and would not suffer a japanned 



" Boitaid and Corbie, 'Les ''^ ' Die Taubenzucht,' 1824, s. 8e. 



Pigeons, &o.,' 18J4, p. 12. Prosper " 'Ornithological Biography,' 



Lucas ('TraiW de I'Her^d. Nat.' vol. i. p. 13. See to the same eli'ect, 



tcm. ii. 1850, p. 296) has himself Dr. Bryant, in ' Allen's Mammals ai 'i 



Dliserved nearly similai facts with Birds of Florida,' p. 344. 

 P)^eoD.s. 



