times remarkable for its swiftness. The unwieldy size of the
secondary wing-feathers of the male Argus pheasant is said almost
entirely to deprive the bird of flight. The fine plumes of male birds
of paradise trouble them during a high wind. The extremely long
tail-feathers of the male widow-birds (Vidua) of Southern Africa render
their flight heavy; but as soon as these are cast off they fly as
well as the females. As birds always breed when food is abundant, the
males probably do not suffer much inconvenience in searching for food
from their impeded powers of movement; but there can hardly be a doubt
that they must be much more liable to be struck down by birds of prey.
Nor can we doubt that the long train of the peacock and the long tail
and wing-feathers of the Argus pheasant must render them an easier prey
to any prowling tiger-cat than would otherwise be the case. Even the
bright colours of many male birds cannot fail to make them conspicuous
to their enemies of all kinds. Hence, as Mr. Gould has remarked, it
probably is that such birds are generally of a shy disposition, as if
conscious that their beauty was a source of danger, and are much more
difficult to discover or approach, than the sombre coloured and
comparatively tame females or than the young and as yet unadorned
males. (93. On the Cosmetornis, see Livingstone s Expedition to the
Zambesi, 1865, p. 66. On the Argus pheasant, Jardine s Nat. Hist.
Lib.: Birds, vol. xiv. p. 167. On Birds of Paradise, Lesson, quoted by
Brehm, Thierleben, B. iii. s. 325. On the widow-bird, Barrow s
Travels in Africa, vol. i. p. 243, and Ibis, vol. iii. 1861 p. 133.
Mr. Gould, on the shyness of male birds, Handbook to Birds of
Australia, vol. i. 1865, pp. 210, 457.)
It is a more curious fact that the males of some birds which are
provided with special weapons for battle, and which in a state of
nature are so pugnacious that they often kill each other, suffer from
possessing certain ornaments. Cock-fighters trim the hackles and cut
off the combs and gills of their cocks; and the birds are then said to
be dubbed. An undubbed bird, as Mr. Tegetmeier insists, is at a
fearful disadvantage; the comb and gills offer an easy hold to his
adversary s beak, and as a cock always strikes where he holds, when
once he has seized his foe, he has him entirely in his power. Even
supposing that the bird is not killed, the loss of blood suffered by an
undubbed cock is much greater than that sustained by one that has been
trimmed. (94. Tegetmeier, The Poultry Book, 1866, p. 139.) Young
turkey-cocks in fighting always seize hold of each other s wattles; and
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