Chap. XIV. Preference by the Female. 421 



males, we must bear in mint} that we can judge of choice being 

 exerted, only by analogy. If an inhabitant of another planet 

 were to behold a number of young rustics at a fair courting a 

 pretty girl, and quarrelling about her like birds at one of their 

 places of assemblage, he would, by the eagerness of the wooers 

 to please her and to display their finery, infer that she had the 

 power of choice. Now with birds, the evidence stands thus; 

 they have acute powers of observation, and they seem to have 

 some taste for the beautiful both in colour and sound. It is 

 certain that the females occasionally exhibit, from unknown 

 causes, the strongest antipathies and preferences for particular 

 males. When the sexes differ in colour or in other ornaments 

 the males with fare exceptions are the more decorated, either 

 permanently or temporarily during the breeding-season. They 

 sedulously display their various ornaments, exert their voices, 

 and perform strange antics in the presence of the females. Even 

 well-armed males, who, it might be thought, would altogether 

 depend for success on the law of battle, are in most cases highly 

 ornamented; and their ornaments have been acquired at the 

 expense of some loss of power. In other cases ornaments have 

 been acquired, at the cost of increased risk from birds and 

 beasts of prey. With various species many individuals of both 

 sexes congregate at the same spot, and their courtship is a pro- 

 longed affair. There is even reason to suspect that the males 

 and females within the same district do not always succeed in 

 pleasing each other and pairing. 



What then are we to conclude from these facts and considera- 

 tions ? Does the male parade his charms with so much pomp 

 and rivalry for no purpose ? Are we not justified in believing 

 that the female exerts a choice, and that she receives the 

 addresses of the male who pleases her most ? It is not probable 

 that she consciously deliberates; but she is most excited or 

 attracted by the most beautiful, or melodious, or gallant males. 

 Nor need it be supposed that the female studies each stripe or spot 

 of colour ; that the peahen, for instance, admires each detail in the 

 gorgeous train of the peacock — she is probably struck only by 

 the general effect. Nevertheless, after hearing how carefully the 

 male Argus pheasant displays his elegant primary wing-feathers, 

 and erects his ocellated plumes in the right position for their 

 full effect ; or again, how the male goldfinch alternately displays 

 his gold-bespangled wings, we ought not to feel too sure that the 

 female does not attend to each detail of beauty. We can judge, 

 as already remarked, of choice being exerted, only from analogy ; 

 and the mental powers of birds do not differ fundamentally from 

 ours. From these various considerations we may conclude thai 



