82 Sexual selection. 



been observed fighting all day long; male stag-beetles 

 sometimes bear wounds from tlie huge mandibles of other 

 males; the males of certain hymenopterous insects have 

 been frequently seen by that inimitable observer M. 

 Fabre, fighting for a particular female who sits by, an ap- 

 parently unconcerned beholder of the struggle, and then 

 retires with the conqueror. The war is, perhaps, severest 

 between the males of pol3'gamous animals, and these seem 

 oftenest provided with special weapons. The males of 

 carnivorous animals are already well armed; though to 

 them and to others, special means of defence may be 

 given through means of sexual selection, as the mane of 

 the lion, and the hooked jaw to the male salmon; for the 

 shield may be as important for victory as the sword or 

 spear. 



Among birds, the contest is often of a more peaceful 

 character. All those who have attended to the subject, 

 believe that there is the severest rivalry between the males 

 of many species to attact, by singing, the females. The 

 rock-thrush of Guiana, birds of paradise, and some others^ 

 congregate, and successive males display with the most 

 elaborate care, and show off in the best manner, their 

 gorgeous plumage; they likewise perform strange antics 

 before the females, which, standing by as spectators, at 

 last choose the most attractive partner. Those who have 

 closely attended to birds in confinement well know that 

 they often take individual preferences and dislikes: thus 

 Sir E. Heron has described how a pied peacock was emi- 

 nently attractive to all his hen birds. I cannot here enter 

 on the necessary details; but if man can in a short time 

 give beauty and an elegant carriage to his bantams, accord- 

 ing to his standard of beauty, I can see no good reason to 

 doubt that female birds, by selecting, during thousands of 

 generations, the most melodious or beautiful males, accord- 

 to their standard of beauty, might produce a marked 

 effect. Some well-known laws, with respect to the pumage 

 of male and female birds, in comparison with the plumage 

 of the young, can partly be explained through the action 

 of sexual selection on variations occurring at different 

 ages, and transmitted to the males alone or to both sexes 

 at corresponding ages; but I have not space here to enter 

 on this subject. 



