Chap. XIII. 
DISPLAY BY THE MALE. 
95 
his rosy breast, slightly expands his brown wings and 
tail, so as to make the best of them by exhibiting their 
white edgings. We must, however, be cautious in con- 
cluding that the wings are spread out solely for display, 
as some birds act thus whose wings are not beautiful. 
This is the case with the domestic cock, but it is always 
the wing on the side opposite to the female which is 
expanded, and at the same time scraped on the ground. 
The male goldfinch behaves differently from all other 
finches: his wiugs are beautiful, the shoulders being 
black, with the dark-tipped wing-feathers spotted with 
white and edged with golden yellow. When he courts 
the female, he sways his body from side to side, and 
quickly turns his slightly expanded wings first to 
one side then to the other, with a golden flashing effect. 
No other British finch, as Mr. Weir informs me, turns 
during his courtship from side to side in this manner ; 
not even the closely-allied male siskin^ for he would not 
thus add to his beauty. 
Most of the British Buntings are plain-coloured birds; 
but in the spring the feathers on the head of the male 
reed-bunting {Emheriza schoeniculus) acquire a fine black 
colour by the abrasion of the dusky tips ; and these are 
erected during the act of courtship. Mr. Weir has kept 
two species of Amadina from Australia : the A, casta- 
notis is a very small and chastely-coloured finch, with 
a dark tail, white rump, and jet-black upper tail-coverts, 
each of the latter being marked with three large 
conspicuous oval spots of white.®^ This species, when 
courting the female, slightly spreads out and vibrates 
these parti' coloured tail-coverts in a very peculiar 
manner. The male Amadina Lathami behaves very 
For the description of these birds, see Gould’s ‘Handbook to the 
Birds of Australia,’ vol. i. 1865, p. 417. 
