COURTSHIP AND SEX 203 



has not advanced far enough to admit of many definite state- 

 ments as to the subjective aspect of animal courtship, it may 

 be granted that there is not in the " choice " of any female 

 animal much that would correspond to a human weighing of 

 pros and cons. But the point of importance is whether the 

 mating is in any real way selective, preferential, discrimina- 

 tive. It has been proved experimentally that insects as 

 well as birds may be selective in their eating : is the same 

 true as regards their mating ? Even if one adopts the 

 modern view that the female does not choose the " best " 

 out of a bunch of suitors, but rather remains unresponsive to 

 the solicitations of males who do not raise her emotional 

 interest to the requisite pitch, that is quite enough for the 

 purposes of the theory ; and it is in agreement with Darwin's 

 own remark about the female bird : " it is not probable that 

 she consciously deliberates : but she is most excited or 

 attracted by the most beautiful, or melodious, or gallant 

 males." 



A third objection is more serious. It is one thing to 

 admit the reality of a somewhat vague preferential mating, it 

 is quite another thing to credit the female animal with a 

 capacity for appreciating slight differences in decorativeness 

 or musical talent or lithesomeness. Wallace's statement of 

 this objection is well known. Referring to Darwin's four 

 chapters in " The Descent of Man," he says : " Any one 

 who reads these most interesting chapters will admit that 

 the fact of display is demonstrated ; and it may also be 

 admitted, as highly probable, that the female is pleased or 

 excited by the display. But it by no means follows that 

 slight differences in the shape, pattern, or colours of the 

 ornamental plumes are what lead a female to give the 

 preference to one male over another ; still less that all the 

 females of a species, or the great majority of them, over a 

 wide area of country, and for many successive generations, 

 prefer exactly the same modification of the colour or 

 ornament " (" Darwinism," 1899, p. 285). 



But the edge has been taken off this objection by Lloyd 

 Morgan and others, who point out the gratuitousness of 



