The season of love is that of battle; but the males of some birds, as of the game-fowl and ruff, and even the young males of the wild turkey and grouse,[76] are ready to fight whenever they meet. The presence of the female is the _teterrima belli causa_. The Bengali baboos make the pretty little males of the amadavat (_Estrelda amandava_) fight together by placing three small cages in a row, with a female in the middle; after a little time the two males are turned loose, and immediately a desperate battle ensues.[77] When many males congregate at the same appointed spot and fight together, as in the case of grouse and various other birds, they are generally attended by the females,[78] which afterwards pair with the victorious combatants. But in some cases the pairing precedes instead of succeeding the combat: thus, according to Audubon,[79] several males of the Virginian goat-sucker (_Caprimulgus Virginianus_) “court, in a highly entertaining manner, the female, and no sooner has she made her choice, than her approved gives chase to all intruders, and drives them beyond his dominions.” Generally the males try with all their power to drive away or kill their rivals before they pair. It does not, however, appear that the females invariably prefer the victorious males. I have indeed been assured by M. W. Kowalevsky that the female capercailzie sometimes steals away with a young male who has not dared to enter the arena with the older cocks; in the same manner as occasionally happens with the does of the red-deer in Scotland. When two males contend in presence of a single female, the victor, no doubt, commonly gains his desire; but some of these battles are caused by wandering males trying to distract the peace of an already mated pair.[80]