In this connection it is to be remarked that fighting, of a more or less sanguinary character, is apparently universal among birds, the conflicts being waged not so much in the way of squabbles for the possession of females as for the acquisition and retention of territory and all that this entails during the breeding season and, to a much less extent, in the defence of the eggs and young. But to this point we must return. For the moment it will be more profitable to focus attention on the character of this fighting. In the first place, it is by no means necessary that the combatants should be armed. The “dove of peace” at this time of the year appears in a new and not always pleasing light, for not only will he fight his neighbours, but he does not always show that gentleness towards his wife with which tradition has credited him. The little Humming-bird would seem to be as little capable of fighting as a bird could be, yet few are more pugnacious. The naturalist Gosse tells of a pair which had torn one another’s tongues out in their blind fury; and everybody knows that Robins and Tits fight savagely to preserve their chosen haunts from invasion by their neighbours. In some birds this pugnacity has become an overmastering passion. Some of the Quails, and a species of Rail (_Gallicrex cristatus_), a near relation of the Moorhen, are commonly kept by the natives of the East, as our forefathers kept Fighting-cocks, for the sake of seeing them fight one another. Yet, save in the case of the Fighting-cock, neither of these birds possesses any aggressive weapons. Among the game-birds, however, powerful armature, in the shape of long, pointed, spurs on the legs are met with. In the Jungle-fowls and Pheasants only a single pair are found on each leg, but in other species, as in the Francolins, there are several pairs, and these birds, it is instructive to notice, are notorious for the ferocity of their encounters. It is said that in the Indian Swamp-Francolin (_Francolinus gularis_) nearly every individual is marked by scars and wounds received in duels with rivals.