SEXUAL SELECTION 99 



the left and some to the right." 2 Here are some 

 other examples where the males seek to charm the fe- 

 males by displaying their ornaments. "With birds 

 of paradise, a dozen or more full-plumaged males 

 congregate in a tree to hold a dancing party, as it is 

 called by the natives; and here they fly about, raise 

 their wings, elevate their exquisite plumes, and make 

 them vibrate, and the whole tree seems, as Mr. Wal- 

 lace remarks, to be filled with waving plumes. . . . 

 When the peacock displays himself, he expands and 

 erects his tail transversely to his body, for he stands in 

 front of the female, and has to show off, at the same 

 time, his rich blue throat and breast." Another bird 

 whose ornamentation resembles that of the peacock, 

 the Polyplectron, takes a slightly different atti- 

 tude. "His breast is obscurely coloured, and the 

 ocelli are not confined to the tail-feathers. 

 Consequently the Polyplectron does not stand in 

 front of the female; but he erects and ex- 

 pands his tail feathers a little obliquely, lowering 

 the expanded wing on the same side, and raising that 

 on the opposite side. In this attitude the ocelli over 

 the whole body are exposed at the same time before 

 the eyes of the admiring female in one grand be- 

 spangled expanse." 3 Many similar cases could be 



2 Darwin. Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. Ill, 

 p. 492. 

 s Ibid., Vol. Ill, pp. 511-513. 



