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The Descent of Man

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e <strong>of</strong> males assemble at a particular spot, and,<br />

strutting about, make the whole air resound<br />

with their extraordinary noises. At the first<br />

answer from a female the males begin to fight<br />

furiously, and the weaker give way; but then,<br />

according to Audubon, both the victors and<br />

vanquished search for the female, so that the<br />

females must either then exert a choice, or the<br />

battle must be renewed. So, again, with one <strong>of</strong><br />

the field-starlings <strong>of</strong> the United States (Sturnella<br />

ludoviciana) the males engage in fierce conflicts,<br />

"but at the sight <strong>of</strong> a female they all fly<br />

after her as if mad." (24. Audubon's 'Ornithological<br />

Biography;' on Tetrao cupido, vol. ii. p.<br />

492; on the Sturnus, vol. ii. p. 219.)<br />

VOCAL AND INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.<br />

With birds the voice serves to express various<br />

emotions, such as distress, fear, anger, triumph,<br />

or mere happiness. It is apparently sometimes<br />

used to excite terror, as in the case <strong>of</strong> the his-

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