476 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



not suffer a japanned peacock to touch them. On his being 

 let out in the autumn, the oldest of the hens instantly 

 courted him and was successful in her courtship. The next 

 year he was shut up in a stable, and then the hens all 

 courted his rival."* This rival was a japanned or black- 

 winged peacock, to our eyes a more beautiful bird than the 

 common kind. 



Lichtenstein, who was a good observer and had excellent 

 opportunities of observation at the Cape of Good Hope, 

 assured liudolphi that the female widow -bird (Cher a 

 progne) disowns the male when robbed of the long tail 

 feathers with which he is ornamented during the breeding- 

 season. I presume that this observation must have been 

 made on birds under confinement, f Here is an analogous 

 case: Dr. Jaeger, J director of the Zoological Gardens of 

 Vienna, states that a male silver-pheasant who had been 

 triumphant over all other males and was the accepted lover 

 of the females had his ornamental plumage spoiled. He 

 was then immediately superseded by a rival who got the 

 upper hand and afterward led the flock. 



It is a remarkable fact, as showing how important color 

 is in the courtship of birds, that Mr. Boardman, a well- 

 known collector and observer of birds for many years in 

 the Northern United States, has never in his large experi- 

 ence seen an albino paired with another bird; yet he has 

 had opportunities of observing many albinos belonging to 

 several species. It can hardly be maintained that albinos 

 in a state of nature are incapable of breeding, as they can 

 be raised with the greatest facility under confinement. It 

 appears, therefore, that we must attribute the fact that 

 they do not pair to their rejection by their normally colored 

 comrades. 



Female birds not only exert a choice, but in some few 



*"Proc. Zool. Soc. ," 1835, p. 54. The japanned peacock is con- 

 sidered by Mr. Sclater as a distinct species, and has been named 

 Paw nigripennis; but the evidence seems to me to show that it is 

 only a variety. 



f Rudolphi, " Beytrage ziir Anthropologie," 1812, s. 184. 



i"Die Darwin'sche Theorie, und ihre Stellung zu Moral und 

 Religion," 1869, s. 59. 



tThis statement is given by Mr. A. Leith Adams, in his " Field 

 Forest Rambles," 1873," p. 76, and accords with his own 

 cgtperieiice. 



