Masterpieces of Science 



is even more astonishing in the case of reptiles, 

 fish and insects. But we really know little 

 about the minds of the lower animals. It can- 

 not be supposed, for instance, that male birds 

 of paradise or peacocks should take such pains 

 in erecting, spreading and vibrating their 

 beautiful plumes before the males for no pur- 

 pose. We should remember the fact given on 

 excellent authority in a former chapter that 

 several peahens, when debarred from an ad- 

 mired male, remained widows during a whole 

 season rather than pair with another bird. 



Nevertheless, I know of no fact in natural 

 history more wonderful than that the female 

 Argus pheasant should appreciate the exquisite 

 shading of the ball-and-socket ornaments and 

 the elegant patterns on the wing feathers of 

 the male. He who thinks that the male was 

 created as he now exists must admit that the 

 great plumes, which prevent the wings from 

 being used for flight and which, as well as the 

 primary feathers, are displayed in a manner 

 quite peculiar to this one species during the act 

 of courtship, and at no other time, were given 

 to him as an ornament. If so, he must likewise 

 admit that the female was created and endowed 

 with the capacity of appreciating such orna- 

 ments. I differ only in the conviction that the 

 male Argus pheasant acquired his beauty 

 gradually, through the females having preferred 

 during many generations the more highly 

 ornamented males; the esthetic capacity of the 

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