564 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



other animals. Even in our own dress the general character 

 lasts long, and tlie changes are to a certain extent gradu- 

 ated. Abundant evidence will be given in two places in a 

 future chapter that savages of many races have admired for 

 many generations the same cicatrices on the skin, the same 

 hideously perforated lips, nostrils, or ears, distorted heads, 

 etc.; and these deformities present some analogy to the 

 natural ornaments of various animals. Nevertheless, with 

 savages such fashions do not endure forever, as we may 

 infer from the differences in this respect between allied 

 tribes on the same continent. So, again, the raisers of 

 fancy animals certainly have admired for many generations 

 and still admire the same breeds; they earnestly desire 

 slight changes, which are considered as improvements, but 

 any great or sudden change is looked at as the greatest 

 blemish. With birds in a state of nature we have no 

 reason to suppose that they would admire an entirely new 

 style of coloration, even if great and sudden variations 

 often occurred, which is far from being the case. We know 

 that dove-cote pigeons do not willingly associate with the 

 variously colored fancy breeds; that albino birds do not 

 commonly get partners in marriage; and that the black 

 ravens of the Feroe Islands chase away their piebald 

 brethren. But this dislike of a sudden change would not 

 preclude their appreciating slight changes any more than it 

 does in the case of man. Hence, with respect to taste, 

 which depends on many elements, but partly on habit and 

 partly on a love of novelty, there seems no improba- 

 bility in animals admiring for a very long period the 

 same general style of ornamentation or other attractions, 

 and yet appreciating slight changes in colors, form, or 

 sound. 



Summary of the Four Chapters on Birds. Most male 

 birds are highly pugnacious during the breeding-season, and 

 some possess weapons adapted for fighting with their rivals. 

 But the most pugnacious and the best armed males rarely 

 or never depend for success solely on their power to drive 

 away or kill their rivals, but have special means for charm- 

 ing the female. With some it is the power of song, or of 

 giving forth strange cries, or instrumental music, and the 

 males in consequence differ from the females in their vocal 

 organs, or in the structure of certain feathers. From the 



