Page:The Common Birds of Bombay.djvu/172

156 peculiar, racket-shaped feathers; the domestic Cock a fleshy comb and wattles; the Turkey an extensile red nose, while some of the Pheasants have beautiful crests. To come to colour, that mixture which is known as "game," is very much in vogue. It consists of light upon dark shades of brown, in bars, or borders, or little splashes, or fine wavy lines, a sort of tartan, always the same in character, but varying in detail with each clan. This is the costume of Quails and Partridges and many others through life, and it is characteristic of the young of all, or almost all. But the aristocracy of the race, the Peafowls and Pheasants and Jungle Cocks, when they come of age, are apparelled with an extravagance of splendour which no other race of bird can approach, except the Humming Birds. This finery is usually the peculiar badge of the male. The other sex is attired with modesty, though always tastefully and often beautifully. This is doubtless connected with another point in which these birds differ from Pigeons, namely, that they are nearly all polygamists. To win a harem and keep it is for them success in life. To this end the young beau must dress and strut and dance and bow and scrape and practise all the arts that enslave the female heart, and he must fight too. Almost all the birds of this order are armed with spurs on their legs and practise the art of fence from their very chicken-hood. If one has a harem it follows that many must do without wives. These are the unsuccessful, which go about alone, moody and resentful, trying to sow dissension in the homes of the more lucky, sometimes getting thrashed for their pains and sometimes thrashing the