1 64 PROBLEMS OF EVOLUTION 



burdened with tails six feet in length, are poor flyers ; and I 

 have frequently seen my men run them down during the hot 

 hours of the day by forcing them to take two or three long 

 flights in succession, in places where they could be driven from 

 one detached piece of jungle to another." l 



The plumes of the Argus pheasant, too, however beautiful, 

 must be very cumbersome. Moreover, hundreds of examples 

 might be found in which the plumage of the male, though it 

 does not impede flight, is too brilliant for safety. How is it 

 that Natural Selection tolerates such a thing ? It would seem 

 that Sexual Selection, which should be only a subordinate, has 

 somehow got out of hand. But if we reflect upon the matter, 

 it is clear that this cannot be so. Natural Selection, if the 

 principle is a true one, must be at work everywhere, though 

 not creating, yet controlling. The force which thrills through 

 all living organisms causes them to burst forth into all manner 

 of developments, some fitted to the environment and some un- 

 fitted. Natural Selection presides as the great regulator. This 

 is the Darwinian theory, and Darwinians ought to be able to 

 show that in any organism all the characters are serviceable or at 

 least not harmful. This brings us back to the plumes of the 

 peacock, the bird of paradise, and the Argus pheasant. 

 M. Stolz- M. Stolzmann, 2 a Pole who, happily, writes in French, is of 

 P m i n tnat tne large excess of males in many species of birds is 

 a disadvantage, since the bachelors are perpetually disturbing the 

 hens upon their nests, and that Nature, therefore, strives to 

 reduce the number by adorning them with plumage that is the 

 very reverse of protective, and by encouraging a system of 

 internecine warfare. 



A well known fact might seem to support this remarkable 

 theory : gamekeepers find that if they keep down the number 

 of cock pheasants they have more young birds ; with grouse 

 (Lagopus scoticus) the same thing has been noticed. But we 

 cannot from this draw the conclusion that Nature makes the 

 mistake of allowing an excess of cock-birds, and then proceeds 



1 Hume and Marshall's Game Birds of India, vol. i. p. 88 



2 Proc. Zool, Soc., 1885, p. 4 2 '- 



