DISPLAY BY THE MALE. 
87 
Cii. 
Ap. 
XIII. 
, ® ls ts that the beautiful plumage of the male serves 
th ° * asc lnate and attract the female.” Mr. Bartlett, at 
0 Zoological Gardens, expressed himself to me in the 
' rail gest terms to the same effect. 
<t 1 m «st be a grand sight in the forests of India “to 
(< /.? m e suddenly on twenty or thirty pea-fowl, the males 
< ; ‘splaying their gorgeous trains, and strutting about 
rJ 11 a U the pomp of pride before the gratified females.” 
fe Ue wild turkey-cock erects his glittering plumage, 
^Pands his finely-zoned tail and barred wing-feathers, 
t | l altogether, with his gorged crimson and blue wat- 
. ( es ’ ^akes a superb, though, to our eyes, grotesque 
'Ppearauce. Similar facts have already been given 
u 1 Respect to grouse of various kinds. r l urning to 
pother Order. The male Rupicold crooea (fig. 50) is 
n 16 1 °^ uiost beautiful birds in the world, being of 
T 1 e nd id orange, with some of the feathers curiously 
plicated and plumose. The female is brownish- 
shaded with red, and has a much smaller 
dh ^ IT Schomburgk has described their court- 
ln 'P ; he found one of their meeting-places where ten 
jp' 1 es iu 'd two females were present. The space was 
^ 0,11 l°ur to five feet in diameter, and appeared to have 
j ( - '. u cleared of every blade of grass and smoothed as 
<( h v human hands. A male “ was capering to the 
.^Parent, deli ght of several others. Now spreading 
“i.. 8 "ings, throwing up its head, or opening its tail 
« ' e a Inn 5 now strutting about with a hopping gait 
a bred, when it gabbled some kind of note, and 
a as Relieved by another. Thus three ot them suc- 
« ^bveiy took the field, and then, with self-appro- 
0 ]. a , 1011 ’ withdrew to rest.” The Indians, in order to 
bioir skins, wait at one of the meeting-places 
a re T are eagerly engaged in dancing, and then 
a lfie to kill, with their poisoned arrows, four or five 
