632 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



bullfinches. Mr. Hussey has described in how extraordi- 

 nary a manner a tamed partridge recognized everybody ; and 

 its likes and dislikes were very strong. This bird seemed 

 "fond of gay colors, and no new gown or cap could be 

 put on without catching his attention. ' ' " Mr. Hewitt has 

 described the habit? of some ducks (recently descended from 

 wild birds), which, at the approach of a strange dog or cat, 

 would rush headlong into the water, and exhaust themselves 

 in their attempts to escape; but they knew Mr. Hewitt's own 

 dogs and cats so well that they would lie down and bask in 

 the sun close to them. They always moved away from a 

 strange man, and so they would from the lady who attended 

 them, if she made any great change in her dress. Audubon 

 relates that he reared and tamed a wild turkey which always 

 ran away from any strange dog; this bird escaped into the 

 woods, and some days afterward Audubon saw, as he 

 thought, a wild turkey, and made his dog chase it; but, 

 to his astonishment, the bird did not run away, and the 

 dog, when he came up, did not attack the bird, for they 

 mutually recognized each other as old friends." 



Mr. Jenner Weir is convinced that birds pay particular 

 attention to the colors of other birds, sometimes out of jeal- 

 ousy, and sometimes as a sign of kinship. Thus he turned 

 a reed-bunting {^Emheriza schoeniculus), which had acquired 

 its black headdress, into his aviary, and the new-comer 

 was not noticed by any bird, except by a bullfinch, which 

 is likewise black-headed. This bullfinch was a very quiet 

 bird, and had never before quarrelled with any of its com- 

 rades, including another reed-bunting, which had not as yet 

 become black-headed; but the reed-bunting with a black 

 head was so unmercifully treated that it had to be removed. 

 Spiza cyanea, during the breeding season, is of a bright blue 

 color; and though generally peaceable, it attacked S. ciria, 



M "The Zoologist," 184T-1848, p. 1602. 



'* Hewitt on wild-dacks, "Journal of Horticulture," Jan. 13, 1863, p. 39. 

 Audabon on the wild turkey, "Ornith. Biography, " Tol. i. p. 14. On the 

 mocking-thrush, ibid., vol. i. p. 110. 



