patches on the hinder part of the body are also of a vivid scarlet, with a tinge of blue. The teeth are of formidable nature, as in many apes and monkeys, the canines being particularly large, partly no doubt with reference to defence, but partly also in relation to combats with other males of the same species. The female Mandrill is faded-looking in comparison to her mate. The swellings on her face are comparatively small and pale, while there is never more than a faint display of red.

The attractions of male mammals often include a relatively well-developed voice, as in the Red Deer, where during the mating season the stag makes a characteristic roaring sound, known as "belling", though whether this serves any special purpose is doubtful. The last remark also applies, it would seem, to the American Howling Monkeys, regarding one of which Darwin thus speaks (in The Descent of Man):-"The vocal organs of the American Mycetes caraya are one-third larger in the male than in the female, and are wonderfully powerful. These monkeys in warm weather make the forests resound at morning and evening with their overwhelming voices. The males begin the dreadful concert, and often continue it during many hours, the females sometimes joining in with their less powerful voices. An excellent observer, Rengger, could not perceive that they were excited to begin by any special cause; he thinks that, like many birds, they delight in their own music, and try to excel each other." One is irresistibly reminded here of the "dreadful concerts" held nightly by the common Cat. The males appear to take the leading parts, and their unearthly cries seem to express defiance of one another, rather than to be a means of attracting the softer

sex.

COURTSHIP AND MATING OF BIRDS (AVES)

THE LAW OF BATTLE.-Most male birds are exceedingly pugnacious, fighting for the possession of mates in the most determined manner, the habit being perhaps best-marked in the polygamous species. They may be provided with special weapons, the spurs of cocks being a familiar example. The methods of fighting of some birds are described as follows by Brehm (in From North Pole to Equator):-" Rival ostriches fight with their strong legs, and, striking forwards, tear deep wounds. with their sharp toe-nails in the breast, body, and legs of their

opponent. Jealous bustards, after spending a long time challenging each other with throat inflated, wings and tail outspread, and much grumbling and hissing, make use of their bills with very considerable effect. Sand-pipers and other shore-birds, particularly the fighting ruffs, which fight about everything, about

a mate or about a fly, about sun and light, or about their standingground, run against each other with bills like poised lances, and receive the thrusts among the breast feathers, which in the case of the ruffs are developed into what serves as a shield [much as in the Lion]. Coots rush at each other on an unsteady surface of water-plants, and strike each other with their legs. Swans, geese, and ducks chase each other till one of the combatants

succeeds in seizing the other by the head and holding him under water, till he is in danger of suffocating, or at least until he is so much exhausted that he is unable to continue the struggle." A battle-royal between two cock chaffinches is represented in fig. 1109.

THE LAW OF BEAUTY.-It is familiar to all that male birds very often differ markedly from the females in the possession of more ornamental characters, and a more powerful or more beautiful voice. And it is significant that their charms are in full perfection at the time of mating. The contrast between the sexes is obvious on looking round any poultry-yard. Among ordinary fowls the striking plumage of the cock, and his scarlet wattles and comb, make him a handsome bird by contrast with the rather dowdy hen. The drake is distinctly handsomer than the duck. But such examples are far excelled by some of the allies of domesticated fowls, for in many of these the plumage of the male is beautiful beyond mere verbal description. Such in particular are the Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus), Amherst's Pheasant (C. Amherstia), the Argus Pheasant (Argusianus giganteus), and the Peacock (Pavo cristatus). Gorgeously decorated male birds of the sort display their charms during courtship in a remarkable manner. We may take as an example the Scarlet Tragopan (Tragopan satura), of which the following description by Ogilvie Grant (in The Royal Natural History) will convey some idea of the brilliancy of the colourscheme: "The male has the top and sides of the head black, the neck, mantle, and under-parts orange-carmine, and the rest of the upper parts olive-brown, each feather being ornamented at the tip with a round white spot, partially or entirely margined with black; the outer wing-coverts being edged on each side with dark orange-carmine. The throat-wattle is salmon-colour with transverse blue bars, and the legs are pale flesh." Brehm, after describing the love-dances of various birds, thus speaks (in From North Pole to Equator) of this particular form:" More remarkable than all the rest is the behaviour of the male tragopans or horned pheasants of Southern Asia, magnificently decorative birds, distinguished by two brightly-coloured horn-like tubes of skin on the sides of the head, and by brilliantly-coloured extensible wattles. After the cock has walked round the hen several times without appearing to pay any attention to her, he stands still at

COURTING OF THE TRAGOPAN (Ceriornis satyrus)

Among highly organized groups of animals the male is commonly more beautiful than his partner, and the matrimonial chances of the former are supposed to be often proportionate to his decorative endowments. According to this view the æsthetic taste of females has had an important influence in the evolution of male adornments. The Horned Pheasant (Ceriornis satyrus) or Tragopan of Northern India, which is one of a small group of extremely handsome species, affords a good illustration of the striking difference in appearance which often distinguishes the sexes. As will be gathered from the plate, the hen-bird (in the foreground) is comparatively dowdy, but the cock possesses adornments of no common order, which he is represented as fully displaying with a view of securing the favour of a desired partner. His ornaments include a couple of blue outgrowths on the head, which can be made to stick up like horns, and a pair of brilliantly coloured wattles capable of inflation to form a sort of horseshoe-shaped collar. Details of the colour-scheme and of the love-antics are given in the text.