THE RISE OF CONSCIOUSNESS 



part of the feathers merely suffered from exces- 

 sive vitality and restlessness, which is a common 

 characteristic of most birds which catch insects 

 on the wing. 



Feathers which have become racket-shaped by 

 natural evolution are, however, frequent adorn- 

 ments of birds, showing that in past ages such 

 ornaments have appealed to the instinct of the 

 females to favor the handsomest suitor. 



Therefore this exceptionally vigorous ancestor 

 of the motmots was doubtless fortunate in his love 

 affairs and begat children with a tendency to re- 

 peat his habits. Nature needs no more than a 

 lucky accident of this kind to work upon ; and we 

 can easily understand how the habit has become 

 stereotyped as the characteristic of a flourishing 

 species. 



It was, of course, highly improbable that such 

 a habit should have been inherited in the first 

 instance; and the fact that only one kind of bird 

 in the whole world does anything of the kind 

 shows how very extremely improbable it was. 

 Had it been otherwise, we should have scores of 

 kinds of birds inheriting accidentally decorative 

 habits. 



If, too, there were any intentional decoration in 

 the habit, there would be variations and improve- 

 ments in design. As it is, however, every motmot, 



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