4n THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



affection. From that hour she forgot her old partner. 

 Winter passed by, and the next spring the pintail seemed 

 to have become a convert to her blandishments, for they 

 nested and produed seven or eight young ones." 



What the charm may have been in these several cases, 

 beyond mere novelty, we cannot even conjecture. Color, 

 however, sometimes comes into play; for in order to raise 

 hybrids from the siskin (Frmgilla spinus) and the canary, 

 it is much the best plan, according to Bechstein, to place 

 birds of the same tint together. Mr. Jenner Weir turned 

 a female canary into his aviary, where there were male 

 linnets, goldfinches, siskins, greenfinches, chaffinches and 

 other birds, in order to see which she would choose; but 

 there never was any doubt, and the greenfinch carried the 

 day. They paired and produced hybrid offspring. 



The fact of the female preferring to pair with one male 

 rather than with another of the same species is not so likely 

 to excite attention as when this occurs, as we have just 

 seen, between distinct species. The former cases can best 

 be olDserved with domesticated or confined birds; but these 

 are often pampered by high feeding, and sometimes have 

 their instincts vitiated to an extreme degree. Of this latter 

 fact I could give sufficient proofs with pigeons, and espe- 

 cially with fowls, but they cannot be here related. Vitiated 

 instincts may also account for some of the hybrid unions 

 above mentioned; but in many of these cases the birds were 

 allowed to range freely over large ponds, and there is no 

 reason to suppose that they were unnaturally stimulated by 

 high feeding. 



With respect to birds in a state of nature, the first and 

 most obvious supposition which will occur to every one is 

 that the female at the proper season accepts the first male 

 whom she may encounter; but she has at least the oppor- 

 tunity for exerting a choice, as she is almost invariably 

 pursued by many males. Audubon and we must remem- 

 ber that he spent a long life in prowling about the forests 

 of the United States and observing the birds does not 

 doubt that the female deliberately chooses her mate; thus, 

 speaking of a woodpecker, he says the hen is followed by 

 half a dozen gay suitors, who continue performing strange 

 antics, " until a marked preference is shown for one."* The 

 female of the red- winged starling {Agelmtis phmiicens) is 

 likewise pursued by several males ; " until, becoming 



