268 SEXUAL selection: mammals. PartIL 



stallion has a thicker and fuller mane than the mare ; 

 and I have made particular inquiries of two great 

 trainers and breeders who have had charge of many 

 entire horses, and am assured that they " invariably 

 " endeavour to seize one another by the neck." It 

 does not, however, follow ironi the foregoing state- 

 ments, that when the hair on the neck serves as a 

 defence, that it was originally developed for this pur- 

 pose, though this is probable in some cases, as in that 

 of the lion. I am informed by Mr. IMcNeill that the 

 long hairs on the throat of the stag {Cervus elephas) 

 serve as a great protection to hiui when hunted, for 

 the dogs generally eudeavour to seize him by the 

 throat; but it is not probable that these hairs were 

 specially developed for this purpose ; otherwise the 

 young and the females would, as we may feel assured, 

 have been equally protected. 



On Preference or Choice in Fairing, as slieivn hy either 

 sex of Quadrui^eds. — Before describing, in the next chap- 

 ter, the differences between the sexes in voice, odour 

 emitted, and ornamentation, it will be convenient here 

 to consider whether the sexes exert any choice in their 

 unions. Does the female prefer any particular male, 

 either before or after the males may have fought to- 

 gether for supremacy ; or does the male, when not a poly- 

 gamist, select any particular female ? The general im- 

 pression amongst breeders seems to be that the male 

 accepts any female; and this, owing to his eagerness, 

 is, in most cases, probably the truth. Whether the 

 female as a general rule indifferently accepts any male 

 is much more doubtful. In the fourteenth chapter, 

 on Birds, a considerable body of direct and indirect 

 evidence was advanced, shewing that the female selects 

 her partner ; and it would be a strange anomaly if 



