. The descent of man : and selection in relation to sex. Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings. LAW OF BATTLE. 357 "when pairing, fight violently for the females: they stand nearly "upright in the water and strike with their ; Two were seen to be thus engaged for half an hour, until one got hold of the head of the other, which would have been killed, ha#. not the observer interfered; the female all the time looking on as a quiet spectator.^ Mr. Blyth informs me that the males of an allied bird (Gallicrex cristatus) are a third larger than the females, and are
. The descent of man : and selection in relation to sex. Evolution; Natural selection; Heredity; Human beings. LAW OF BATTLE. 357 "when pairing, fight violently for the females: they stand nearly "upright in the water and strike with their ; Two were seen to be thus engaged for half an hour, until one got hold of the head of the other, which would have been killed, ha#. not the observer interfered; the female all the time looking on as a quiet spectator.^ Mr. Blyth informs me that the males of an allied bird (Gallicrex cristatus) are a third larger than the females, and are so pug-. Fig. 37. The Ruff or Machetes pugnax (from Brehm's 'Thierleben'). nacious during the breeding-season, that they are kept by the natives of Eastern Bengal for the sake of fighting. Various other birds are kept in India for the same purpose, for instance, the bulbuls (Pycnonotus hasmorrhous) which "fight with great ";® The polygamous ruff (Machetes pugnax, fig. 37) is notorious for his extreme pugnacity; and in the spring, the males, which are considerably larger than the females, congregate day after day at a particular spot, where the females propose to lay their eggs. The fowlers discover these spots by the turf being trampled some- what bare. Here they fight very much like gamecocks, seizing each other with their beaks and striking with their wings. The ^ W. Thompson, 'Nat. Hist of Ireland: Birds,' vol. ii. 1850, p. 327. ^Jerdon, 'Birds of India,' 1863, vol. ii. p. 96. 24. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882. New York : Merrill and Baker
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjecthumanbeings, bookyear
