264 THE BIRD WATCHER 
(whether we include aggongst these the bright colour- 
ing of the mouth or not), have been acquired by the 
female also in the same way—that there has been, in 
fact, a double process of sexual selection instead of a 
single one only ; that the male, as well as the female, 
has been capable of exercising choice ? 
Great stress has been laid upon the eagerness of the 
male, as contrasted with the coyness of the female, in 
courtship, throughout nature ; but were the latter to 
possess some eagerness also, her share of it need not 
be so great as the male’s, so that we should not, by 
supposing her to, be contravening this principle: she 
might even fly, or seem to fly, from his pursuit. How, 
then, might her own ardour become valid to the extent 
of influencing the choice of the cock? As it appears 
to me, this might be brought about through the 
jealousy inspired in one hen bird by the sight of 
attentions paid to another. She, the jealous one, 
might have behaved coyly had the same, or another, 
male wooed her, but her feelings become inflamed 
and her modesty is lost when she sees that which, for 
all her seeming, she would have wished for herself, 
bestowed upon another. She interposes, let us say, at 
first, by attacking the favoured female, but if this one 
is as strong and as determined as herself, there will be 
now a series of indecisive combats, of which the cock 
will be the spectator ; and why should not these com- 
bats be varied with displays, or something of that 
nature, on the part of either combatant, with the view 
of attracting him? If so, the cock who has previously, 
