Chap. XIII. 
LAW OF BATTLE. 
41 
for half an hour, until one got hold of the head of the 
other which would have been killed, had not the ob- 
server interfered ; the female all the time looking on as 
a quiet spectator.^ The males of an allied bird {Gallic 
crex cristatus), as Mr. Blyth informs me, are one third 
larger than the females, and are so pugnacious during 
the breeding-season, that they are kept by the natives 
of Eastern Bengal for the sake of fighting. Various 
other birds are kept in India for the same purpose, for 
instance the Bulbuls [Pyenonotus hsemorrhous) which 
fight with great spirit.” ^ 
The polygamous Buff (Machetes pugnax, fig. 37) is 
notorious for his extreme pugnacity ; and in the spring, 
the males, which are considerably larger than the 
females, congregate day after day at a particular spot,, 
where the females propose to lay their eggs. The 
fowlers discover these spots by the turf being trampled 
somewhat bare. Here they fight very much like game- 
cocks, seizing each other with their beaks and striking 
with their wings. The great ruff of feathers round the 
neck is then erected, and according to Col. Montagu 
sweeps the ground as a shield to defend the more 
tender parts ; ” and this is the only instance known 
to me in the case of birds, of any structure serving as a 
shield. The ruff of feathers, however, from its varied 
and rich colours probably serves in chief part as an 
ornament. Like most pugnacious birds, they seem 
always ready to fight, and when closely confined often 
kill each other; but Montagu observed that their 
pugnacity becomes greater during the spring, when the 
long feathers on their necks are fully developed ; and 
at this period the least movement by any one bird 
^ W. Tliomj)son, ‘ Nat. Hist, of Ireland : Birds,’ vol. ii. 1850, p. 327 
® Jerdon, ‘ Birds of India,’ 1863, vol. ii. p. 96. 
