70 THE COURTSHIP OF ANIMALS ' 



vanquished. The other two soon settled their differences, 

 and the clashing of horns was at once followed by a very 

 different performance. The master ram began to run in and 

 out among the ewes, sniffing at each, and driving out those 

 whose odour most pleased him. Having at last satisfied 

 himself with a harem of about one hundred, the second 

 ram was allowed to make a like choice, and behaved in 

 a Hke manner, leaving the remainder to the ram which was 

 first vanquished. May we take it that the strongest 

 and oldest rams selected the youngest ewes, and the 

 oldest were left to the youngest, and first conquered 

 ram ? By some such rough and ready method of selection 

 Nature may contrive that the immature male shall do as 

 little harm to the race as possible by mating with the 

 oldest, and in many cases barren females. 



Our survey of the " hoofed " animals has so far been 

 confined to the ruminants. Space must now be found for 

 a brief review of what obtains under like circumstances 

 in the case of the great pachyderms — the Elephant, 

 Rhinoceros and Hippopotamus ; the Pig and the Camel. 



As to actual " courtship " among these animals prac- 

 tically nothing is known ; but the varied and formidable 

 weapons which they possess are enough to show that 

 the secondary sexual characters play a very important part 

 in the preliminary capture of mates. That they may 

 also be used for the more prosaic purpose of securing food 

 is nothing to the point. In the Elephant, for example, 

 the tusks are sometimes of enormous size and weight, 

 specimens of eleven feet in length and weighing as much 

 as two hundred and fifty pounds are on record. They are 

 used for cutting through the bark of machabel trees, 

 which is then seized by the trunk and torn off, for 

 elephants are extremely fond of this bark; and they are 



