272 THE BIRD WATCHER 
the female only wheggthey are of a very pronounced 
and extraordinary character, or very musical, would 
not be logical. They must be always directed to this 
end, if at all, and if the females indulge in the same 
gestures and utter the same sounds, their motive in 
doing so, and the effect produced by their doing it, 
should be the same, but directed towards, and acting 
upon, the male. 
Why, then, should the male not exercise some 
choice, especially should there be, in addition, jealousy 
and competition amongst the females? As to this, it 
is not easy to imagine a desire on the part of one 
sex to please the other, unattended with jealousy, nor 
can jealousy exist without competition. We are not, 
however, confined to likelihood, for it is certain that 
the hen bird does sometimes court the cock and fight 
for him with rival hens, even in those cases where 
the cock alone is beautiful. In support of this I will 
quote some cases long ago brought forward by Darwin, 
though not as pointing in the direction in which they 
seem to me to point. Darwin, then, in his magnificent 
work, The Descent of Man—now, as it appears to me, 
little read and much required to be—writes as follows: 
“Mr. Hewitt states that a wild duck, reared in cap- 
tivity, after breeding a couple of seasons with her own 
mallard, at once shook him off on my placing a male 
pintail on the water. It was evidently a case of love 
at first sight, for she swam about the new-comer 
caressingly, though he appeared evidently alarmed 
and averse to her overtures of affection. From that 
