The season of love is that of battle; but the males of some birds, as
of the game-fowl and ruff, and even the young males of the wild turkey
and grouse (18. Audubon, Ornithological Biography, vol. ii. p. 492;
vol. i. pp. 4-13.), are ready to fight whenever they meet. The presence
of the female is the teterrima belli causa. The Bengali baboos make the
pretty little males of the amadavat (Estrelda amandava) fight together
by placing three small cages in a row, with a female in the middle;
after a little time the two males are turned loose, and immediately a
desperate battle ensues. (19. Mr. Blyth, Land and Water, 1867, p.
212.) When many males congregate at the same appointed spot and fight
together, as in the case of grouse and various other birds, they are
generally attended by the females (20. Richardson on Tetrao umbellus,
Fauna Bor. Amer.: Birds, 1831, p. 343. L. Lloyd, Game Birds of
Sweden, 1867, pp. 22, 79, on the capercailzie and black-cock. Brehm,
however, asserts ( Thierleben, B. iv. s. 352) that in Germany the
grey-hens do not generally attend the Balzen of the black-cocks, but
this is an exception to the common rule; possibly the hens may lie
hidden in the surrounding bushes, as is known to be the case with the
gray-hens in Scandinavia, and with other species in N. America.), which
afterwards pair with the victorious combatants. But in some cases the
pairing precedes instead of succeeding the combat: thus according to
Audubon (21. Ornithological Biography, vol. ii. p. 275.), several
males of the Virginian goat-sucker (Caprimulgus virgianus) court, in a
highly entertaining manner the female, and no sooner has she made her
choice, than her approved gives chase to all intruders, and drives them
beyond his dominions. Generally the males try to drive away or kill
their rivals before they pair. It does not, however, appear that the
females invariably prefer the victorious males. I have indeed been
assured by Dr. W. Kovalevsky that the female capercailzie sometimes
steals away with a young male who has not dared to enter the arena with
the older cocks, in the same manner as occasionally happens with the
does of the red-deer in Scotland. When two males contend in presence of
a single female, the victor, no doubt, commonly gains his desire; but
some of these battles are caused by wandering males trying to distract
the peace of an already mated pair. (22. Brehm, Thierleben, etc., B.
iv. 1867, p. 990. Audubon, Ornithological Biography, vol. ii. p.
492.)
Even with the most pugnacious species it is probable that the pairing
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