138 RUMINANTIA. 



He has his comb in common with the female ; but, as its difference 

 from that of the female renders it more beautiful, it is reasonable to 

 suppose that beauty is the principle of the distinction. 



The bull has his horns of offence : the female has them also. His, 

 however, are stronger, and every way better adapted for greater execu- 

 tion. He has therefore his head and neck of strength equal to the 

 shape of his horns : his very appearance carries along with it the idea 

 of irresistibihty. 



There are animals whose parts of offence and defence serve another 

 and more useful purpose, viz. the procuring their food. In that case, 

 as I said before, such use being one of the essentials of life, therefore 

 the females have them in common with the male, and in proportion to 

 the strength and size of the body. The talons of a lion serve both for 

 offence and defence and killing their prey : therefore the last use obliges 

 the female to have them also. 



The horse has his tusk for laying hold of others, which the mare has 

 not. It may be remarked, that although many females have not the 

 parts of offence, yet they fight exactly in the same manner as the males 

 do. For example, a hen fights in the same manner as the cock, and 

 even the bull without horns affects to use them. 



Males most commonly, at certain times of the year, are pretty nearly 

 upon a footing with the females, as to offence and defence ; they are 

 perfectly harmless with one another. This principle is most remarkable 

 in the wild animals, the females of which have their particular seasons 

 for receiving the male. Most probably we should find the same hold as 

 strictly true with the domesticated animals, if they were left as much 

 to a state of nature : but, in them, the female is better fed ; the altera- 

 tions of the seasons are not so distinct ; they are more blended into one 

 another : therefore, the particular inclinations are oftener excited and 

 gratified ; the inclinations and vigour of the males are kept more afloat. 

 This is still more remarkable in those males which have a plurality of 

 females, as it is seldom but that there may be one or more females 

 keeping up the disposition in the male ; this is most remarkable in the 

 common barn-fowl. 



After premising so much, it will not appear far-fetched to say that 

 the antlers of the deer-kind are principally for the offence and defence 

 of the animal in the time of the rutting season, — a time, and the only 

 one, that excites enmity in the males towards one another. They are 

 completely formed by this season, and they soon begin to fall after it ; 

 although they do not fall so very soon, yet the preparation tending to 

 this is soon. They are not complete till September, and they are fallen 

 by March. 



