LAW OF BATTLE. 
45 
C 'Up. XIII. 
Black-, 
Wll 
r luri ri 
%ht 
cock ( Tetrao urog alius and T. tetrix), which are 
polygamists, have regular appointed places, where 
g many weeks they congregate in numbers to 
- together and to display their charms before the 
^‘Oales. ]\I. \V. Kowalevsky informs me that in Russia 
le bas seen the snow all bloody on the arenas where 
„ e Capercailzie have fought ; and the Black-cocks 
^ ^ake the feathers fly in every direction,” when 
ovexal “engage in a battle royal.” The elder Brehm 
" es a curious account of the Balz, as the love-dance 
ry. 1 ^ve-song of the Black-cock is called in Germany. 
’. e bird utters almost continuously the most strange 
ls °' Ses : “ he holds his tail up and spreads it out like a 
« u "’ be lifts up his head and neck with all the feathers 
(! ? lect > and stretches his wings from the body. Then 
takes a few jumps in different directions, some- 
in a circle, and presses the under part of his 
“be 
“times 
“ b V 
< ( a c so hard against the ground that the chin-feathers 
« r nbhed off. During these movements he beats 
« 8 w 'ngs and turns round and round. The more 
(( c c e nt he grows the more lively he becomes, until at 
8 s ' the bird appears like a frantic creature.” At 
b e CU timeS tlle black-cocks are so absorbed that they 
Ca Cortle almost blind and deaf, but less so than the 
tl I lc ailzi e; hence bird after bird may be shot on 
After 
the 
Perf^ 1 ^ 6 S l ,0 t’ or even caught by the hand, 
the ° lrnin g these antics the males begin to fight : and 
Same black-cock, in order to pi-ove his strength over 
feveral 
antagonists, will visit in the course of one morn- 
Sevei 'al Balz-places, which remain the same during 
"««*»! years. 1 * 
rois 1 Ulust. TMerletjen,’ 1807, D. iv. s. 851. Some of the foie- 
> 6meilts are taken from L. Lloyd, ‘ The Game Birds of 
U ’ &c.. 1867, p. 79. 
