380 Darwin, and after Darwin. 



It is a matter of observation that the higher 

 animals do not pair indiscriminately ; but that the 

 members of either sex prefer those individuals of the 

 opposite sex which are to them most attractive. It 

 is important to understand in limine that nobody has 

 ever attempted to challenge this statement. In other 

 words, it is an unquestionable fact that among many of 

 the higher animals there literally and habitually occurs 

 a sexual selection ; and this fact is not a matter of 

 inference, but, as I have said, a matter of observation. 

 The inference only begins where, from this observable 

 fact, it is argued, ist, that the sexual selection has 

 reference to an aesthetic taste on the part of the 

 animals themselves ; and and, that, supposing the 

 selection to be determined by such a taste, the cause 

 thus given is adequate to explain the phenomena of 

 beauty which are presented by these animals. I will 

 consider these two points separately. 



From the evidence which Darwin has collected, it 

 appears to me impossible to doubt that an aesthetic 

 sense is displayed by many birds, and not a few 

 mammals. This of course does not necessarily imply 

 that the standards of such a sense are the same as 

 our own ; nor does it necessarily imply that there is 

 any constant relation between such a sense and high 

 levels of intelligence in other respects. In point of 

 fact, such is certainly not the case, because the best 

 evidence that we have of an aesthetic sense in animals 

 is derived from birds, and not from mammals. The 

 most cogent cases to quote in this connexion are 

 those of the numerous species of birds which habi- 

 tually adorn their nests with gaily coloured feathers, 

 wool, cotton, or any other gaudy materials which they 



