° 1918 J Hawkins, Sexual Selection and Bird Song. 427 



able to win from other competitors ; and if we go to the reptile class 

 we find that in the ophidian order, which excels in variety and 

 richness of colour, there is no such thing as preferential mating; 

 and if we go to the insect class, we find that in butterflies, which 

 surpass all other creatures in their glorious beauty, the female gives 

 herself up to the embrace of the first male that appears, or else is 

 captured by the strongest male, just as she might be by a mantis 

 or some other rapacious insect." He accounts for the singing of 

 birds by the abounding energy of birds. "We see that the inferior 

 animals, when the conditions of life are favorable, are subject to 

 periodical fits of gladness, affecting them powerfully and standing 

 out in vivid contrast to their ordinary temper. And we know what 

 this feeling is — this periodic intense elation which even civilized 

 man occasionally experiences when in perfect health, more espe- 

 cially when young. There are moments when he is mad with joy, 

 when he cannot keep still, when his impulse is to sing and shout 

 aloud and laugh at nothing, to run and leap and exert himself in 

 some extravagant way. Among the heavier mammalians the 

 feeling is manifested in loud noises, bellowings and screamings, and 

 in lumbering, uncouth motions — throwing up heels, pretended 

 panics, and ponderous mock battles." 



This is simply a repetition of Herbert Spencer's surplus energy 

 theory which was based on the earlier theory of Schiller who in his 

 letters ' On the ^Esthetic Education of Mankind ' wrote : " Nature 

 has indeed granted, even to the creature devoid of reason more 

 than the mere necessities of existence, and into the darkness of 

 animal life has allowed a gleam of freedom to penetrate here and 

 there. When hunger no longer torments the lion, and no beast of 

 prey appears for him to fight, then his unemployed power finds 

 another outlet. He fills the wilderness with his wild roars and 

 his exuberant strength spends itself in aimless activity. In the 

 mere joy of existence, insects swarm in the sunshine, and it is 

 certainly not always the cry of want that we hear in the melodious 

 rhythm of bird songs. There is evidently freedom in these mani- 

 festations, but not freedom from all necessity. The animal works 

 when some want is the motive of his activity, and plays when a 

 superabundance of energy forms his motive when overflowing life 

 itself urges him to action." 



