giving what little I have learnt respecting the courtship of fowls. I
have received long letters on this subject from Messrs. Hewitt and
Tegetmeier, and almost an essay from the late Mr. Brent. It will be
admitted by every one that these gentlemen, so well known from their
published works, are careful and experienced observers. They do not
believe that the females prefer certain males on account of the beauty
of their plumage; but some allowance must be made for the artificial
state under which these birds have long been kept. Mr. Tegetmeier is
convinced that a gamecock, though disfigured by being dubbed and with
his hackles trimmed, would be accepted as readily as a male retaining
all his natural ornaments. Mr. Brent, however, admits that the beauty
of the male probably aids in exciting the female; and her acquiescence
is necessary. Mr. Hewitt is convinced that the union is by no means
left to mere chance, for the female almost invariably prefers the most
vigorous, defiant, and mettlesome male; hence it is almost useless, as
he remarks, to attempt true breeding if a game-cock in good health and
condition runs the locality, for almost every hen on leaving the
roosting-place will resort to the game-cock, even though that bird may
not actually drive away the male of her own variety. Under ordinary
circumstances the males and females of the fowl seem to come to a
mutual understanding by means of certain gestures, described to me by
Mr. Brent. But hens will often avoid the officious attentions of young
males. Old hens, and hens of a pugnacious disposition, as the same
writer informs me, dislike strange males, and will not yield until well
beaten into compliance. Ferguson, however, describes how a quarrelsome
hen was subdued by the gentle courtship of a Shanghai cock. (21. Rare
and Prize Poultry, 1854, p. 27.)
There is reason to believe that pigeons of both sexes prefer pairing
with birds of the same breed; and dovecot-pigeons dislike all the
highly improved breeds. (22. Variation of Animals and Plants under
Domestication, vol. ii. p. 103.) Mr. Harrison Weir has lately heard
from a trustworthy observer, who keeps blue pigeons, that these drive
away all other coloured varieties, such as white, red, and yellow; and
from another observer, that a female dun carrier could not, after
repeated trials, be matched with a black male, but immediately paired
with a dun. Again, Mr. Tegetmeier had a female blue turbit that
obstinately refused to pair with two males of the same breed, which
were successively shut up with her for weeks; but on being let out she
would have immediately accepted the first blue dragon that offered. As
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