74 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 



female, unequal in value, associated together, 

 and at a time when the difference in their 

 values is greatest, i.e. during the breeding 

 season ; the male, the less valuable, renders 

 himself conspicuous in many ways ; the female 

 keeps more or less concealed. Here are two 

 associated individuals of different value, pre- 

 senting different characters. According to 

 the Theory, these characters, or at least some 

 of them, should control Natural Selection in 

 such a way that the less valuable male will 

 be taken, rather than the more valuable female. 

 Further, at this time, the pair are especially 

 liable to be successfully attacked, because 

 their attention is fully occupied with sexual 

 affairs ; so that some provision for the selec- 

 tion of the male may be expected. Therefore 

 may it not be, that the male renders himself 

 conspicuous in order that, in the event of the 

 pair being attacked by an enemy, he may be 

 destroyed rather than the female ? The Hawk 

 will stoop, the Cat will spring, at the more 

 easily seen bird. It does not follow that 

 one of the two must in every case perish ; 

 the display of the male will draw the attack 

 of any neighbouring enemy and thus, as 

 it were, clear the air, so that dangerous 

 copulation may be accomplished in safety. 



