MAMMALS, 695 



endeavor to seize one another by the neck/' It does not, 

 however, :tpllow from the foregoing statements, that when 

 the hair on the neck serves as a defense, ^that it wa origi- 

 nally developed for this purpose, though this is probable in 

 some cases, as in that of the lion. I am informed by Mr. 

 McNeill that the long hairs on the throat of the stag 

 ( Cervus elaphus) serve as a great protection to him when 

 hunted, for the dogs generally endeavor to seize him by the 

 throat; but it is not probable that these hairs were specially 

 developed for this purpose; otherwise the young and the 

 females would have been equally protected. 



Choice in Pairing hy Either Sex of Qiiadriipeds. Before 

 describing, in the next chapter, the differences between the 

 sexes in voice, odors emitted and ornaments, it will be con- 

 venient here to consider whether the sexes exert any choice 

 in their unions. Does the female prefer any particular 

 male, either before or after the males may have fought 

 together for supremacy; or does the male, when not a 

 polygamist, select any particular female? The general 

 impression among breeders seems to be that the male accepts 

 any female; and this, owing to his eagerness, is, in most 

 cases, probably the truth. Whether the female, as a 

 general rule, indifferently accepts any male is much more 

 doubtful. In the fourteenth chapter, on birds, a consider- 

 able body of direct and indirect evidence was advanced 

 showing that the female selects her partner; and it would 

 be a strange anomaly if female quadrupeds, which stand 

 higher in the scale and have higher mental powers, did not 

 generally, or at least often, exert some choice. The female 

 could in most cases escape, if wooed by a male that did not 

 please or excite her; and when pursued by several males, 

 as commonly occurs, she would often have the opportunity, 

 while they were fighting together, of escaping with some 

 one male, or at least of temporarily pairing with him. 

 This latter contingency has often been observed in Scot- 

 land with female red deer, as I am informed by Sir Philip 

 Egerton and others.* 



* Mr. Boner, in bis excellent description of the habits of tbe red- 

 deer in Germany (" Forest Creatures," 1861, p. 81) says, '* wbile tbe 

 stag is defending bis rigbts against one intruder, anotber invades tbe 

 sanctuary of bis barem, and carries off tropby after tropby." 

 Exactly the same thing occurs with seals, ^e Mr. J. A. Allen, ibid, 

 P. 100. 



