OCR Text |
Show 250 SEXUAL SELECTION : MAMMALS. P AflT lf. "mode of fighting, always closing at once with his "adversary, and catching him across tho face and nose ' ' with a sharp drawing jerk of his bead, and then "boundina out of the way before the blow could be "returned." In Pembrokeshire a male goat, the master of a flock which during several generations had n~n wild, was known to have killed several other males m single combat; this goat possessed enormo~s hor~s, measuring 39 inches in a straight line from tip to tip. The common bull, as every one knows, .gore~ and tosses his opponent ; but the Italian buffalo IS said n~ver ~o use his horns he aives a tremendous blow with h1s convex forehe~d, and then tramples on his fallen enemy with his knees-an instinct which the common bull docs not possess.19 Hence a dog who pins a buffalo by the nose is immediately crushed. We must, however, remember that the Italian buffalo has long been domesticated, and it is by no means certain that the wild parent-form had similarly shaped horns. Mr. Bartlett informs me that when a female Cape buffalo (Bubalus. ca.ffer) was turned into an enclosure with ? bull of the same species, she attacked him, and he m ~eturn pushed her about with great violence. But It was manifest to Mr. Bartlett that had not the bull shewn dignified forbearance, he could easily have killed he1· by a sino·le lateral thrust with his immense horns. The o-iraffe ~ses his short hair-covered horns, which arc ~ather lonaer in the male than in the female, in a curious m~nner ; for with his long neck he swings his head to either side, almost upside down, with such force, that I have seen a hard plank deeply indented by a single blow. to :M:. E. M. Bailly, " sur l'usngc des Carnes," &c., 'Annal. des So. Nnt.' tom. ii. 1824. p. 369. C'IIAI'. X\TII. LAW OF BATTLE. 2;)} 'Yith antelopes it is sometimes difficult to imagine how they can possibly usc their curiously·shapcd horns; thus the spring-bee (Ant. euchore) has rather short upright horns, with tho sharp points bent inwards almost at a right angle, so as to face each other; Mr. Bartlett docs not know how they are used, but suggests that they would inflict a fearful wound down each side of the face of an antagonist. 'The slightly-curved horns of the Ot·yx leucoryx (fig. 61) are directed backwards, anrl arc of such length that their points reach beyond the Fig. 61. Oryx leucoryx, male (from the Knowslcy l\Icnagerie). middle of the back, over which they stand in au almost parallel line. Thus they seem singularly ill-fitted for fighting; but Mr. Bartlett informs me that when two of these animals prepare for battle, they kneel down, with their heads between their front legs, and in thiR attitude the horns stand nearly parallel and close to the ground, with the points directed forwards and a little upwards. The combatants then gradually approach each other and endeavour to get the upturned points under each other's bodies; if one succeeds in |