Music and Dancing in Nature. 279 
male able to administer the most vigorous and 
artistic slaps ? 
The believer in the theory would put all these 
cases lightly aside, to cite that of the male cow-bird 
practising antics before the female and drawing a 
wide circle of melody round her; or that of the jet- 
black, automaton-like, dancing tyrant-bird; and 
concerning this species he would probably say that 
the plain-plumaged female went about unseen, 
critically watching the dancing of different males, 
to discover the most excellent performer according 
to the traditional standard. And this was, in sub- 
stance, what Darwin did. There are many species 
in which the male, singly or with others, practises 
antics or sings during the love-season before the 
female ; and when all such cases, or rather those 
that are most striking and bizarre, are brought 
together, and when it is gratuitously asserted that 
the females do choose the males that show off in the 
best manner or that sing best, a case for sexual 
selection seems to be made out. How unfair the 
argument is, based on these carefully selected cases 
gathered from all regions of the globe, and often 
not properly reported, is seen when we turn from 
the book to nature and closely consider the habits 
and actions of all the species inhabiting any one 
district. We see then that such cases as those 
described and made so much of in the Descent of 
Man, and cases like those mentioned in this chapter, 
are not essentially different in character, but are 
manifestations of one instinct, which appears to be 
almost universal among the animals. The explana- 
tion I have to offer lies very much on the surface 
