102 ORIGIN OF SPECIES 



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 apparently uncon- 

 cerned beholder of the struggle, and then retires with the 

 conqueror. The war is, perhaps, severest between the males 

 of polygamous 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. 



Amongst birds, the contest is often of a more peaceful 

 character. All those who have attended to the subject, be- 

 lieve that there is the severest rivalry betwen the males of 

 many species to attract, by singing, the females. The rock- 

 thrush of Guiana, birds of paradise, and some others, congre- 

 gate ; and successive males display with the most elaborate 

 care, and show off in the best manner, their gorgeous plu- 

 mage; they likewise perform strange antics before the fe- 

 males, 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 R. Heron has described 

 how a pied peacock was eminently 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, according to his standard of beauty, I can see 

 no good reason to doubt that female birds, by selecting, dur- 

 ing thousands of generations, the most melodious or beautiful 

 males, according to their standard of beauty, might produce a 

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

 plumage 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. 



Thus it is, as I believe, that when the males and females of 

 any animal have the same general habits of life, but differ in 



