IN THE SHETLANDS 263 
way in order to please the male, but that since she has 
not learnt to do so under the true laws of sexual 
selection, but has acquired her character incidentally, 
merely, by transmission from the male, and that, there- 
fore, her conduct has no effect upon the male, since 
it has not been brought about in relation to his dis- 
position, which is so eager as to make it indifferent to 
him what hen he gets, as long as he gets one—to sup- 
pose all this is—well, for me it is very difficult. The 
plain common sense of the thing seems to be that if 
the female displays her charms to the male in the same 
way that he displays his to her, she must do it for the 
same purpose, and is no more likely to be wasting 
labour, or expending it unnecessarily, than is he. If 
we do not give the same value to actions identical in 
either sex—if we will not allow “ sauce for the gander” 
to be “sauce for the goose” —we become involved, 
as it appears to me, in inextricable confusion ; and, 
moreover, can it be supposed that a habit which bore 
no fruit would remain fixed, or be governed by times 
and seasons, even if it did not cease on account of its 
inutility ? Assuming, then, as I feel bound to assume, 
that the languishing actions of two fulmar petrels 
when sitting together on a ledge, or the throwing up 
of the head and opening the bill at each other of a 
pair of shags, each during the breeding season, are 
equally pleasing to one sex as to the other, may we 
not, or are we not rather compelled to think that such 
special adornments as we admit in the male to have 
been acquired through the agency of sexual selection 
