018 - THE DESCENT OF MAN 



by exhibiting their white edgings. We must, however, be 

 cautious in concluding that the wings are spread out solely 

 for display, as some birds do so whose wings are not beau- 

 tiful. This is the case with the domestic cock, but it is 

 always the wing on the side opposite to the female which 

 is expanded, and at the same time scraped on the ground. 

 The male goldfinch behaves differently from all other 

 finches: his wings are beautiful, the shoulders being black, 

 with the dark-tipped wing-feathers spotted with white and 

 edged with golden yellow. When he courts the female, he 

 sways his body from side to side, and quickly turns his 

 slightly expanded wings first to one side, then to the other, 

 with a golden flashing effect. Mr. Weir informs- me that 

 no other British finch turns thus from side to side during 

 his courtship, not even the closely allied male siskin, for 

 he would not thus add to his beauty. 



Most of the British Buntings are plain colored birds; but 

 in the spring the feathers on the head of the male reed- 

 bunting {Emberiza scliosniculus) acquire a fine black color 

 by the abrasion of the dusky tips; and these are erected 

 during the act of courtship. Mr. Weir has kept two species 

 of Amadina from Australia: the A. castanotis is a very 

 small and chastely colored finch, with a dark tail, white 

 rump, and jet-black upper tail-coverts, each of the latter 

 being marked with three large conspicuous oval spots of 

 white."' This species, when courting the female, slightly 

 spreads out and vibrates these party-colored tail-coverts in 

 a very peculiar manner. The male Amadina Laihami be- 

 haves very differently, exhibiting before the female his 

 brilliantly spotted breast, scarlet rump, and scarlet upper 

 tail-coverts. I may here add from Dr. Jerdon that the 

 Indian bulbul {^Pycnonotus hae-morrhous) has its under tail- 

 coverts of a crimson color, and these, it might be thought, 

 could never be well exhibited; but the bird "when excited 

 often spreads them out laterally, so that they can be _seen 



^' For the description of these birds, see Gould's "Handbook to the Birds 

 of Australia," vol. i., 1865, p. 417. 



