The Descent of Man

trains, and strutting about in all the pomp of
pride before the gratified females." The wild
turkey-cock erects his glittering plumage, expands
his finely- zoned tail and barred wingfeathers,
and altogether, with his crimson and
blue wattles, makes a superb, though, to our
eyes, grotesque appearance. Similar facts have
already been given with respect to grouse of
various kinds. Turning to another Order: The
male Rupicola crocea (Fig. 50) is one of the
most beautiful birds in the world, being of a
splendid orange, with some of the feathers curiously
truncated and plumose. The female is
brownish-green, shaded with red, and has a
much smaller crest. Sir R. Schomburgk has described
their courtship; he found one of their
meeting- places where ten males and two females
were present. The space was from four to
five feet in diameter, and appeared to have
been cleared of every blade of grass and
smoothed as if by human hands. A male "was
capering, to the apparent delight of several ot-