98 THE THEORIES OF EVOLUTION 



females. The weaker ones that follow would have to 

 share the conquered and less powerful males; their 

 offspring* would thus be less numerous and less pow- 

 erful than that of the first couples. "And this is all 

 that is wanted," concludes Darwin, "to add in the 

 course of successive generations, to the size, strength 

 and courage of the males, or to improve their meth- 

 ods." x 



But in many cases the female seems to exercise a 

 choice in favouring the most ornamental males, or 

 those which are the best songsters, etc. Darwin cites 

 a great many examples (of birds especially) where 

 the male seeks really to seduce the female. Thus, 

 nightingales do not seek the females, but sing to- 

 gether, many of them at the same time, and the fe- 

 males drawn towards them choose among them. 

 Other birds execute dances and various love antics. 

 "In North America," Darwin writes, "large numbers 

 of grouse (Tetras phasianelltis) meet every morn- 

 ing during the breeding season on a selected level 

 spot and here they run round and round in a circle 

 of about fifteen or twenty feet in diameter, so that 

 the ground is worn quite bare. In these partridge 

 dances, as they are called by the hunters, the birds as- 

 sume the strangest attitudes, and run round, some to 



i Darwin. Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. II, 

 pp. 280-283. 



