XI COLOUR AND SONG 307 
death. In fact, happiness is the general rule in the 
animal world, and chronic melancholy is unknown. 
In all these displays of plumage and song, in 
every exhibition of high spirits, it is the cock-birds 
who play the leading part. The nesting season is the 
time of jollity and hilarity, in whatever way expressed. 
It is in springtime that there take place among some 
species those elaborate performances that go by the 
name of love antics; in spring, too, the cock-birds 
engage in their most desperate fights. Colour-dis- 
play, singing, antics, and fighting are all allied 
phenomena; and all are manifested at the time of 
pairing and nesting. 
In many species there are special preparations. 
The cock-birds have a partial moult, after which 
they don far gayer plumes than they have worn 
during the winter. The Linnets, Red-polls, Dunlins, 
Golden Plovers, Gulls, brighten up their old dresses 
or adorn themselves with new. Ducks and their 
kin get ready over-early; the male Teal, having 
been since July as dull as the hen-bird, in October 
blossoms out in the black, chestnut, green, buff, and 
white which he wears in spring. The Ruff puts on a 
noble breastplate. Even the Cormorant appears with 
a white patch on each thigh that breaks the monotony 
of his attire. So different in many birds is the spring 
plumage from that of the rest of the year that when 
you shoot a specimen in autumn or winter it is often 
quite unlike the pictures in the books which, as a rule, 
give the birds at their best. In many cases, however, 
for instance in that of the Peacocks and Pheasants, 
the grand plumes are worn throughout the year. 
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