Chap. XIII. 
DISPLAY BY THE MALE. 
93 
his plumes, and on the elaboration of the most elegant 
patterns. Many will declare that it is utterly incredible 
that a female bird should be able to appreciate fine 
shading and exquisite patterns. It is undoubtedly a 
marvellous fact that she should possess this almost 
human degree of taste, though perhaps she admires 
the general effect rather than each separate detail. 
He who thinks that he can safely gauge the discrimi- 
nation and taste of the lower animals, may deny that 
the female Argus pheasant can appreciate such refined 
beauty ; but he will then be compelled to admit that 
the extraordinary attitudes assumed by the male during 
the act of courtship, by which the wonderful beauty of 
his plumage is fully displayed, are purposeless ; and 
this is a conclusion which I for one will never admit. 
Although so many pheasants and allied gallinaceous 
birds carefully display their beautiful plumage before 
the females, it is remarkable, as Mr. Bartlett informs 
me, that this is not the case with the dull-coloured 
Eared and Cheer pheasants (Crossoptilon auritum and 
PJiasianus WallicJiii) ; so that these birds seem con- 
scious that they have little beauty to display. Mr, 
Bartlett has never seen the males of either of these 
species fighting together, though he has not had such 
good opportunities for observing the Cheer as the 
Eared pheasant. Mr. Jenner Weir, also, finds that 
all male birds with rich or strongly-characterised 
plumage are more quarrelsome than the dull-coloured 
species belonging to the same groups. The gold- 
finch, for instance, is far more pugnacious than the 
linnet, and the black-bird than the thrush. Those birds 
which undergo a seasonal change of plumage like- 
wise become much more pugnacious at the period when 
they are most gaily ornamented. No doubt the males 
of some obscurely- coloured birds fight desperately 
