xi COLOUR AND SONG 313 



plausibly that the selected males would pair earlier, 

 and thus have time for a second or third brood. It 

 must be owned that the evidence of female preference 

 is deficient. Sometimes when the Peacock is making 

 the most of himself, the Peahen looks the other way. 

 Sometimes he shows off to men, or even, it is said, to 

 pigs. Most of the instances of a hen-bird falling in 

 love with a particular cock-bird seem to show caprice 

 rather than a regulated taste for the beautiful. A male 

 Blackbird and a Thrush pair together. Out of a flock 

 of twenty-three Canada Geese one pairs with a 

 solitary Bernicle Gander. A male Wigeon, living 

 with others of the same species, has been known to 

 pair with a Pintail Duck. We have also the damaging 

 fact that some Pigeons dyed with magenta were not 

 much noticed by the others. But there is some really 

 valuable evidence from Audubon's Ornithological Bio- 

 graphy that in the United States hen Woodpeckers, 

 Red-winged Starlings, and Nightjars actually do make 

 a choice among several suitors. Again, persons who 

 have had great experience of Canaries maintain that 

 a hen-bird will choose out the best singer. But, when 

 it is all added up, the direct evidence does not amount 

 to much ; and there is adverse evidence such as this, 

 that the cock of the farmyard, who has beaten his 

 rivals in battle, does not lose caste though all his 

 plumes are draggled. The arguments often brought 

 against this theory are not necessarily fatal — (1) that 

 it presupposes a highly cultivated aesthetic taste in 

 the hen-birds ; (2) that selection by battle and by 

 female preference cannot go on at the same time ; (3; 

 that some birds sing at all times of the year. It is not 



