Animals that Advertise 



r 



that the songsters chant their sweetest melodies, 

 or chirrup and whistle as best they may. 



Now, it is not straining words to speak of 

 all these intentional displays of ability and 

 beauty as advertisements of the desire to marry 

 and the attractions each has to offer. And 

 naturalists say that the females deliberately 

 choose among the competitors, taking the best 

 one according to the standard of each species. 

 Thus the most brightly plumaged males, the 

 best singers, are given the greatest number of 

 chances to mate and perpetuate their race, and 

 to transmit their excellence to their offspring. 



The result of this tendency to breed from the 

 strongest and best has been a steady increase 

 of such qualities and a steady growth in these 

 directions. Thus, say those to whom the theory 

 of sexual selection is sufficient to explain all 

 these things, have gradually come about all the 

 gay colors and all the brilliant songs of our 

 birds. 



