It is a remarkable fact, as shewing how important colour is in the courtship of birds, that Mr. Boardman, a well-known collector and observer of birds for many years in the Northern United States, has never in his large experience seen an albino paired with another bird; yet he has had opportunities of observing many albinos belonging to several species. (29. This statement is given by Mr. A. Leith Adams, in his 'Field and Forest Rambles,' 1873, p. 76, and accords with his own experience.) It can hardly be maintained that albinos in a state of nature are incapable of breeding, as they can be raised with the greatest facility under confinement. It appears, therefore, that we must attribute the fact that they do not pair to their rejection by their normally coloured comrades.
Female birds not only exert a choice, but in some few cases they court the male, or even fight together for his possession. Sir R. Heron states that with peafowl, the first advances are always made by the female; something of the same kind takes place, according to Audubon, with the older females of the wild turkey. With the capercailzie, the females flit round the male whilst he is parading at one of the places of assemblage, and solicit his attention. (30. In regard to peafowl, see Sir R. Heron, 'Proc. Zoolog. Soc.' 1835, p. 54, and the Rev. E.S. Dixon, 'Ornamental Poultry,' 1848, p. 8. For the turkey, Audubon, ibid. p. 4. For the capercailzie, Lloyd, 'Game Birds of Sweden,' 1867, p. 23.) We have seen that a tame wild-duck seduced an unwilling pintail drake after a long courtship.
Mr. Bartlett believes that the Lophophorus, like many other gallinaceous birds, is naturally polygamous, but two females cannot be placed in the same cage with a male, as they fight so much together. The following instance of rivalry is more surprising as it relates to bullfinches, which usually pair for life. Mr. Jenner Weir introduced a dull-coloured and ugly female into his aviary, and she immediately attacked another mated female so unmercifully that the latter had to be separated. The new female did all the courtship, and was at last successful, for she paired with the male; but after a time she met with a just retribution, for, ceasing to be pugnacious, she was replaced by the old female, and the male then deserted his new and returned to his old love.
In all ordinary cases the male is so eager that he will accept any female, and does not, as far as we can judge, prefer one to the other; but, as we shall hereafter see, exceptions to this rule apparently occur in some few groups. With domesticated birds, I have heard of only one case of males shewing any preference for certain females, namely, that of the domestic cock, who, according to the high authority of Mr. Hewitt, prefers the younger to the older hens. On the other hand, in effecting hybrid unions between the male pheasant and common hens, Mr. Hewitt is convinced that the pheasant invariably prefers the older birds. He does not appear to be in the least influenced by their colour; but "is most capricious in his attachments" (31. Mr. Hewitt, quoted in Tegetmeier's 'Poultry Book,' 1866, p. 165.): from some inexplicable cause he shews the most determined aversion to certain hens, which no care on the part of the breeder can overcome.
Mr. Hewitt informs me that some hens are quite unattractive even to the males of their own species, so that they may be kept with several cocks during a whole season, and not one egg out of forty or fifty will prove fertile. On the other hand, with the long-tailed duck (Harelda glacialis), "it has been remarked," says M. Ekstrom, "that certain females are much more courted than the rest. Frequently, indeed, one sees an individual surrounded by six or eight amorous males." Whether this statement is credible, I know not; but the native sportsmen shoot these females in order to stuff them as decoys. (32. Quoted in Lloyd's 'Game Birds of Sweden,' p. 345.)