The Descent of Man 1 7 



plumage ? The strongest instance given by Mr. ])arwin is 

 as follows : — 



* Sir R Heron during many years kept an account of the habits 

 of the peafowl, which he bred in large numbers. He states that the 

 hens have frequently great preference for a particular peacock. They 

 were all so fond of an old pied cock, that one year, when he was con- 

 fined though still in view, they were constantly assembled close to 

 the trellice-walls of his prison, and would not suffer a japanned pea- 

 cock to touch them. On his being let out in the autumn, the oldest 

 of the hens instantly courted him, and was successful in her court- 

 ship. The next year he was shut up in a stable, and then the hens 

 all courted his rival. This rival was a japanned or black-winged 

 peacock, which to our eyes is a more beautiful bird than the common 

 kind.'— Vol. ii. p. 119. 



Now no one disputes as to birds showing preferences one 

 for another, but it is quite a gratuitous suggestion that the 

 pied plumage of the venerable paterfamilias was ike charm 

 which attracted the opposite sex ; and even if such were the 

 case, it would seem to prove (from Mr. Darwin's concluding 

 remark) either that the peahen's taste is so different from 

 ours, that the peacock's plumage could never have been 

 developed by it, or (if the taste of these peahens was different 

 from that of most peahens) that such is the instability of a 

 vicious feminine caprice, that no constancy of coloration 

 could be produced by its selective action. 



Mr. Darwin bases his theory of sexual selection greatly 

 on the fact that the male birds display the beauty of their 

 plumage with elaborate parade and many curious and un- 

 couth gestures. But this display is not exclusively used in 

 attracting and stimulating the hens. Thus he admits that 

 ' the males will sometimes display their ornaments when not 

 in the presence of the females, as occasionally occurs with 

 the grouse at their balz-places, and as may be noticed with 

 the peacock ; this latter bird, however, evidently wishes for a 

 spectator of some kind, and will show off his finery, as I 



VOL. II. B 



