282 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



drives them forth ; and when he returns, weary 

 and moist with sweat, though he may have the 

 finest head in the forest, he is not the prettiest 

 stag. He holds his harem as an Arab chief does 

 his by prowess, and not by consent. For many 

 days he is kept trotting round his hinds, warning 

 off rivals, and not till he has beaten all the bachelor 

 stags in his district does he get anything like 

 peace. Even then he is rather more of an angry 

 shepherd than a husband. The envious ones will 

 keep showing themselves. The light-headed 

 feminines will keep looking longingly at their 

 trim figures, and if they were not watched it would 

 be *' o'er the border and awa' " with some of 

 them. Long before the time arrives for the break- 

 ing up of the association the great stag is worn to 

 a shadow, largely by the furious labour required 

 of him to beat off encroachments from without and 

 to repress infidelity within. 



The whole theory of female choice in the animal 

 world has fallen a good deal into disrepute, and, 

 if it were well established, would not afford a 

 very good basis for an argument positing its 

 superiority. For it will be noted that most 

 of the cases on whicji it rests are cases of 

 polygamous animals. Five-sixths of the cases 

 on which it rests are taken from the order 

 of the game birds, which, from the peacock to 

 the blackcock, make great courtship displays 

 before the .females, who are supposed to choose 

 the male .with the finest plumage show, or the 

 best dancing style, or the finest gift of strutting. 

 If they do make the choice, it can hardly be called 



