44 
SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. 
Part II- 
The males of many gallinaceous birds, especially 
of the polygamous kinds, are furnished with special 
weapons for fighting with their rivals, namely spurs, 
which can be used with fearful effect. It has been 
recorded by a trustworthy writer 11 that in Derbyshire 
a kite struck at a game-hen accompanied by her 
chickens, w'hen the cock rushed to the rescue and drove 
his spur right through the eye and skull of the 
aggressor. The spur was with difficulty drawn from 
the skull, and as the kite though dead retained liis 
grasp, the two birds were firmly locked together ; but 
the cock when disentangled was very little injured. 
The invincible courage of the game-cock is notorious: 
a gentleman who long ago witnessed the following 
brutal scene, told me that a bird had both its legs 
broken by some accident in the cock-pit, and the owner 
laid a wager that if the legs could be spliced so that 
the bird could stand upright, he would continue fighting. 
This was effected on the spot, and the bird fought 
with undaunted courage until he received his death- 
stroke. In Ceylon a closely-allied aud wild species, 
the Gallus Stanleyi, is known to fight desperately “ in 
“ defence of his seraglio,” so that one of the combatants 
is frequently found dead . 12 An Indian partridge ( OritJ ■ 
gornis gularis), the male of which is furnished with 
strong and sharp spurs, is so quarrelsome, “that the 
“ scars of former fights disfigure the breast of almost 
“ every bird you kill .” 13 
The males of almost all gallinaceous birds, even those 
which are not furnished with spurs, engage during the 
breeding-season in fierce conflicts. The Capercailzie and 
11 Mr. Hewitt in the ‘ Poultry Book by Tegetmeier,’ 1866, p. 137. 
12 Layard, ‘ Annals and Mag. of Nat. Ilist.’ vol. xiv. 1854, p. 63. 
13 Jerdon, ‘ Birds of India,’ vol. iii. p. 574. 
