74 MAN [CHAP. VIII 



Letter 440 no disadvantage, for the unfortunate male to enjoy an equal 

 immunity from danger. For my part, I should say that the 

 female alone had happened to vary in the right manner, and 

 that the beneficial variations had been transmitted to the 

 same sex alone. Believing in this, I can see no improbability 

 (but from analogy of domestic animals a strong probability) 

 that variations leading to beauty must often have occurred 

 in the males alone, and been transmitted to that sex alone. 

 Thus I should account in many cases for the greater beauty of 

 the male over the female, without the need of the protective 

 principle. I should be grateful for an answer on the point. 



Letter 441 To J. Jenner Weir. 



Down, April i8th [1868]. 



You see that I have taken you at your word, and have 

 not (owing to heaps of stupid letters) earlier noticed your 

 three last letters, which as usual are rich in facts. Your 

 letters make almost a little volume on my table. I daresay 

 you hardly knew yourself how much curious information 

 was lying in your mind till I began the severe pumping 

 process. The case of the starling married thrice in one day 

 is capital, and beats the case of the magpies of which one 

 was shot seven times consecutively. A gamekeeper here 

 tells me that he has repeatedly shot one of a pair of jays, 

 and it has always been immediately replaced. I begin to 

 think that the pairing of birds must be as delicate and tedious 

 an operation as the pairing of young gentlemen and ladies. 

 If I can convince myself that there are habitually many 

 unpaired birds, it will be a great aid to me in sexual selection, 

 about which I have lately had many troubles, and am there- 

 fore rejoiced to hear in your last note that your faith keeps 

 staunch. That is a curious fact about the bullfinches all 

 appearing to listen to the German singer 1 ; and this leads 

 me to ask how much faith may I put in the statement that 

 male birds will sing in rivalry until they injure themselves. 

 Yarrell formerly told me that they would sometimes even 

 sing themselves to death. I am sorry to hear that the 

 painted bullfinch turns out to be a female ; though she has 



1 See p. 81, note i. 



