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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.
The fact is well known to every field-naturalist, and with reference to England several examples may be found in Charles Dixon's Among the Birds in Northern Shires. S.W. Baker, Wild Beasts, etc., vol. i. p. 316. Tschudi, Thierleben der Alpenwelt, p. 404. Houzeau's Etudes, ii. 463.
After performing these antics the males begin to fight: and the same black-cock, in order to prove his strength over several antagonists, will visit in the course of one morning several Balz-places, which remain the same during successive years. Brehm, 'Thierleben, 1867, B. iv. s. 351.
But it does not appear that the spurs in this case, or in that of some of the spur-winged rails, are larger in the male than in the female. For the Egyptian goose, see Macgillivray, 'British Birds, vol. iv. p. 639. For Plectropterus, Livingstone's 'Travels, p. 254. For Palamedea, Brehm's 'Thierleben, B. iv. s. 740.
Rengger, also, insists on the diversity in the various mental characters of the monkeys of the same species which he kept in Paraguay; and this diversity, as he adds, is partly innate, and partly the result of the manner in which they have been treated or educated. Brehm, 'Thierleben, B. i. ss. 58, 87.
Turning to the Old World, the males of Hylobates hoolock are always black, with the exception of a white band over the brows; the females vary from whity-brown to a dark tint mixed with black, but are never wholly black. On Mycetes, Rengger, ibid. s. 14; and Brehm, 'Thierleben, B. i. s. 96, 107. On Ateles Desmarest, 'Mammalogie, p. 75. On Hylobates, Blyth, 'Land and Water, 1867, p. 135.
If the beak is not thus struck against some object, the sound is quite different. Air is at the same time swallowed, and the oesophagus thus becomes much swollen; and this probably acts as a resonator, not only with the hoopoe, but with pigeons and other birds. For the foregoing facts see, on Birds of Paradise, Brehm, 'Thierleben, Band iii. s. 325. On Grouse, Richardson, 'Fauna Bor.
On the following morning they were very cross and dismal; they held their aching heads with both hands, and wore a most pitiable expression: when beer or wine was offered them, they turned away with disgust, but relished the juice of lemons. Brehm, 'Thierleben, B. i. 1864, s. 75, 86. On the Ateles, s. 105.
On Cynocephalus, Brehm, 'Thierleben, B. i. 1864, s. 77. On Mycetes, Rengger, 'Naturgeschichte der Saugethiere von Paraguay, 1830, ss. 14, 20. The ruminants are eminently polygamous, and they present sexual differences more frequently than almost any other group of mammals; this holds good, especially in their weapons, but also in other characters.
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. Brehm, 'Thierleben, etc., B. iv. 1867, p. 990.
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