174 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



what it fed on, a pugnacious disposition would have been evolved. 

 A social one, however, must have existed before, and it is curious 

 and interesting, in watching these Buff assemblies, to see the 

 combination of the two. They are, indeed, so interwoven that 

 the birds may almost be said to fight, and to love one 

 another's society, at the same time ; but if the two things are 

 irreconcilable, assuredly the one obtains till the other begins, 

 and commences again as it leaves off. As, however, according 

 to my own observations hitherto, that part of the twenty-four 

 hours during which, in the breeding time, any individual Buff is 

 actually at blows with another, is probably, on the average, 

 a good deal under half an hour,* it will be seen how small a force 

 the hostile one in reality is, in comparison with the social. And 

 although, as just remarked, the encroachment upon each other's 

 standing-places is one of the main causes of contention amongst 

 Buffs, yet, on the other hand, the way in which, if this encroach- 

 ment does not take place, they will stand or sit for hours in close 

 proximity, without coming into collision, is very observable. 

 For instance, the apartments of the brown Buff, and of the one 

 which, for convenience, I distinguish by the word blue (his ruff 

 does seem to me more blue than black), are next one another, and 

 so close as to be almost, if not quite, contiguous. Consequently, 

 when the Beeves are there, it is difficult, supposing them to be 

 not shared in common, to tell which belong to the one and which 

 to the other. Yet in spite of this, and though the pairing was 

 frequently proceeding on each property at the same time, I have 

 never seen the two birds have anything like a real fight. Once 

 — and I think it was on one of the latter occasions — there was a 

 demonstration, followed by a spring or two, but it was soon over. 

 Otherwise, except for certain little ebullitions which have taken 

 place at long intervals, and amounted to nothing, they have been 

 like the best of friends and old cronies. The above remarks 

 apply, more or less — and much more than less — to all the 

 other birds — friendliness, in fact, or at any rate the love of, 

 or feeling of comfort in, each other's society is the foundation of 

 the Buff's character. The little ebullitions to which I refer are 



* It is a curious and, to me, significant fact that much later in the season 

 (on my former visit), when the pairing must have been over, fighting seemed 

 to be not less, but more. 



