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Show 90 SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRD . PAnl' II. 1 <l win()" on the same side, and lowering the expan< e . o. d In this attitude the raisin()" that on the opposlte Sl e. d before the eyes o b l l l ody arc e.xpose ocelli over t e w lO e ) . oTand bespang1ecl ex-of the admiring female m one o " CnAr. XJ!I. DISPLAY BY TilE MAJ,E. Dl pa11se. To whichever side she may turn, the expanded wings and the obliquely-held tail are turned towards J1er. The male Tragopan pheasant acts in nearly the same manner, for he raises the feathers of the body, though not the wing itself, on tho side which is opposite to tho female, and which would otherwise be concealed, so that nearly all the beautifully-sl)Otted feathers aro exhibited at the same time. 11he case of the Argus pheasant is still more strildng. The immensely developed secondary wing-feathers, which are confined to the male, are ornamented with a row of from twenty to twenty-three ocelli, each above an inch in diameter. The feathers are also elegantly marked with oblique dark stripes and rows of spots, like those on the skin of a tiger and leopard combined. The ocelli are so beautifully shaded that, as the Duke of Argyll remarks, ~5 they stand out like a ball lying loosely within a socket. But when I looked at the specimen in the British Museum, which is mounted with the wings expaneled and trailing down wards, I was greatly cEsappointecl, for the ocelli appeared flat or even concave. l\lr. Gould, however, soon made the case clear to DJ(·, for he had made a drawing of a male whilst he 'ras displaying himself. At such times the long secondal'y feathen; in both wings are vertically erected and expanded; and these, together with the enormously elongated tail-feathers, make a grand semicircular upright fim. Now as soon as the wing-feathers·are held in tbis position, and the light shines on them from above, the full effect of the shading comes out, and each ocellus at once resembles the ornament called a ball and socket. These feathers have been shewn to seYeral artists, and all have expressed their admiration at the perfect shading. s; 'Tho Reign of Lnw,' l8G7, p. 203. |