DISPLAY BY MALE BIRDS OF THEIR PLUMAGE.
Ornaments of all kinds, whether permanently or temporarily gained, are
sedulously displayed by the males, and apparently serve to excite,
attract, or fascinate the females. But the males will sometimes display
their ornaments, when not in the presence of the females, as
occasionally occurs with grouse at their balz-places, and as may be
noticed with the peacock; this latter bird, however, evidently wishes
for a spectator of some kind, and, as I have often seen, will shew off
his finery before poultry, or even pigs. (85. See also Ornamental
Poultry, by Rev. E.S. Dixon, 1848, p. 8.) All naturalists who have
closely attended to the habits of birds, whether in a state of nature
or under confinement, are unanimously of opinion that the males take
delight in displaying their beauty. Audubon frequently speaks of the
male as endeavouring in various ways to charm the female. Mr. Gould,
after describing some peculiarities in a male humming-bird, says he has
no doubt that it has the power of displaying them to the greatest
advantage before the female. Dr. Jerdon (86. Birds of India,
introduct., vol. i. p. xxiv.; on the peacock, vol. iii. p. 507. See
Gould s Introduction to Trochilidae, 1861, pp. 15 and 111.) insists
that the beautiful plumage of the male serves to fascinate and attract
the female. Mr. Bartlett, at the Zoological Gardens, expressed himself
to me in the strongest terms to the same effect.
[Fig. 50. Rupicola crocea, male (T.W. Wood).]
It must be a grand sight in the forests of India to come suddenly on
twenty or thirty pea-fowl, the males displaying their gorgeous trains,
and strutting about in all the pomp of pride before the gratified
females. The wild turkey-cock erects his glittering plumage, expands
his finely-zoned tail and barred wing-feathers, and altogether, with
his crimson and blue wattles, makes a superb, though, to our eyes,
grotesque appearance. Similar facts have already been given with
respect to grouse of various kinds. Turning to another Order: The male
Rupicola crocea (Fig. 50) is one of the most beautiful birds in the
world, being of a splendid orange, with some of the feathers curiously
truncated and plumose. The female is brownish-green, shaded with red,
and has a much smaller crest. Sir R. Schomburgk has described their
courtship; he found one of their meeting-places where ten males and two
females were present. The space was from four to five feet in diameter,
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