SEXUAL SELECTION 476 



known to drive a dog howling away. But it does not 

 appear that the spurs in this case, or in that of some of 

 the spur-winged rails, are larger in the male than in the 

 female." In certain plovers, however, the wing-spurs must 

 be considered as a sexual character. Thus in the male of 

 our common peewit [Vanellus cristatus) the tubercle on the 

 shoulder of the wing becomes more prominent during 

 the breeding season, and the males fight together. In some 

 species of Lobivanellus a similar tubercle becomes developed 

 during the breeding season "into a short horny spur." In 

 the Australian L. lohatus both sexes have spurs, but these 

 are much larger in the males than in the females. In an 

 allied bird, the Holopterus armatus, the spurs do not in- 

 crease in size during the breeding season; but these birds 

 have been seen in Egypt to fight together, in the same 

 manner as our peewits, by turning suddenly in the air and 

 striking sidewise at each other, sometimes with fatal re- 

 sults. Thus also they drive away other enemies." 



The season of love is that of battle; but the males of 

 some birds, as of the game-fowl and ruff, and even the 

 young males of the wild turkey and grouse, " are ready to 

 fight whenever they meet. The presence of the female is 

 the teterima belli causa. The Bengali baboos make the 

 pretty little males of the amadavat {Estrelda amandava) 

 fight together by placing three small cages in a row, with 

 a female in the middle ; -after a little time the two males are 

 turned loose, and immediately a desperate battle ensues." 

 When many males congregate at the same appointed spot 

 and fight together, as in the case of grouse and various other 



18 For (ie Egyptian goose, see Macgillivray, "British Birds," vol. iv. p. 639. 

 For Plectropterua, "LiviBgstone's Travels," p. 254. For Palamedea, Brehm's 

 "Thlerleben, " B. iv. s. 140. See also on this bird Azara, "Voyages dans 

 I'Am&lque mdrld.," torn, iv., 1809, pp. 119, 253. 



" See, on our peewit, Mr. R. Carr in "Land and Water," August 8, 1868, 

 p. 46. In regard to Lobivanellus, see Jerdon's "Birds of India," vol. ili. p. 

 641, and Gould's "Handbook of Birds of Australia, " vol. ii. p. 220. For the 

 Holopterus, see Mr. Allen in the "Ibis," vol. v., 1863, ^). 156. 



>e Audubon, "Omith. Biography," vol. ii. p. 492- vol. i. pp. 4-13. 



" Mr. Blyth, "Land and Water, " 1861, p. 212. 



