138 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 



ber of rivals, and they are not willingly displaced. 

 Accordingly we find that polygamy is usually accom- 

 panied by a belligerent disposition on the part of the 

 males. In our ordinary barnyard fowl this trait is 

 very evident. The rooster not only domineers over 

 the hens, not only struts about among them in stately 

 fashion and gives vent to his feelings by his sonorous 

 voice, he must also drive away from the neighborhood 

 any rivals for the affections of his wives. Hence the 

 rooster attacks upon sight the neighboring rooster, 

 and battles with him to his entire discomfiture and 

 sometimes to the death. 



Among the members of the deer family this partic- 

 ular phase of the relation between the sexes has pro- 

 duced in the males, and only very rarely in the fe- 

 males, the magnificent branching horns. These are 

 intended not so much as a protection against the 

 enemy as for an offensive w^eapon in the battle for the 



mates. 



Beautiful and stately as are these magnificent horns, 

 they last only for a part of the year. We begin to 

 understand their meaning. When the w^olf is hungri- 

 est, toward the close of the bitter winter, the deer is 

 without horns. When the time for mating comes, the 

 deer within a few weeks grows his horns, which at ^ 

 first are covered with a plushlike coating, known as 

 velvet. After a while this dries and he rubs his horns 



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