106 
SEXUAL SELECTION: BIEDS. 
PABl" 
widower was thrice consoled during the same day. ® t 
Engleheart also informs me that he used during sc''^ r ^ 
years to shoot one of a pair of starlings which built ^ _ 
hole in a house at Blackheath ; but the loss was al"" ! '. 
immediately repaired. During one season he hep , 
account and found that he had shot thirty-five birds 1 ’ ' 
the same nest ; these consisted of both males and 
males, but in what proportion he could not say: D®’ 
theless after all this destruction, a brood was reared- J 
These facts are certainly remarkable. How is it r , ; 
so many birds are ready immediately to replace » 
mate ? Mae 
jpies, jays, carrion-crows, partridges, 
some other birds, are never seen during the spring a i 
themselves, and these offer at first sight the | 
perplexing case. But birds of the same sex, alth° l k, 
of course not truly paired, sometimes live in pairs 01 . 
small parties, as is known to be the case with pig eC> . 
and partridges. Birds also sometimes live in trip* 6 
as has been observed with starlings, carrion-crows, Fh 
rots, and partridges. With partridges two females ^ 
been known to live with one male, and two males ^ ( 
one female. In all such cases it is probable that 
union would be easily broken. The males of 
birds may occasionally be beard pouring forth 
love-song long after the proper time, shewing that * . 
have either lost or never gained a mate. Death 
accident or disease of either one of a pair, would 
the other bird free and single ; and there is reas 0 ' 1 ^ 
believe that female birds during the breeding-®® 8 ^ 
• jiff' 
« On the peregrine falcon see Thompson, ‘ Nat. Hist, of 
Birds,’ vol. i. 1819, p. 39. On owls, sparrows, and partridges, see 
‘ Nat. Hist, of Selborae,’ edit, of 1825, yol. i. p. 139. On the r%,n. 
cura, see London’s ‘ Mag. of Nat. Hist.’ vol. vii. 1834, p. 245. riel 
(‘ Thierleben,’ B. iv. s. 991) also alludes to cases of birds thrice 
during same day. 
