MENTAL POWERS OF MAX AND LOWER AXIMALS. 191 



THE SEXSE OF BEAUTY. 



Descent ^" s sense nas teen declared to be peculiar 



of Man, to man. I refer here only to the pleasure 

 P a S e 9 ' • given by certain colors, forms, and sounds, 

 and which may fairly be called a sense of the beautiful ; 

 with cultivated men such sensations are, however, inti- 

 mately associated with complex ideas and trains of 

 thought. When we behold a male bird elaborately dis- 

 playing his graceful plumes or splendid colors before the 

 female, while other birds, not thus decorated, make no 

 such display, it is impossible to doubt that she admires 

 the beauty of her male partner. As women everywhere 

 deck themselves with these plumes, the beauty of such 

 ornaments can not be disputed. As we shall see later, 

 the nests of humming-birds and the playing passages of 

 bower-birds are tastefully ornamented with gayly-colored 

 objects ; and this shows that they must receive some kind 

 of pleasure from the sight of such things. With the 

 great majority of animals, however, the taste for the 

 beautiful is confined, as far as we can judge, to the at- 

 tractions of the opposite sex. The sweet strains poured 

 forth by many male birds during the season of love are 

 certainly admired by the females, of which fact evidence 

 will hereafter be given. If female birds had been incapa- 

 ble of appreciating the beautiful colors, the ornaments, 

 and voices of their male partners, all the labor and anx- 

 iety exhibited by the latter in displaying their charms 

 before the females would have been thrown away ; and 

 this it is impossible to admit. Why certain bright colors 

 should excite pleasure can not, I presume, be explained, 

 any more than why certain flavors and scents are agree- 

 able ; but habit has something to do with the result, for 



