Color in Nature 



343 



There are yet other instances of striking color which are 

 not covered by any of the explanations which we have given 

 so far. "Why should the males of many birds be so si)lendidly 

 attired that "even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed 

 like one of these"; while the females mnst be satisfied with 

 a modest coat of drab or brown? The male scarlet tanager 

 in flashing lively of black and scarlet, the male of the rose- 

 breasted gi'osbeak with its breast of gorgeous rose, and the 

 saucy little male goldflncli in coat of black and yellow, are 



The Antelope 

 Which carries a recognition mark ui)ou its rump. A vanishing species 

 which once thronged our western plains.- 



Courtesy of the National Zoiilof/ical Park. 



among the most striking and beautiful objects in nature ; while 

 the females must be content with quiet colors, remU'ring them 

 wholly different in appearance from their mates. Once again 

 the Darwinian comes to rescue us from our dih-mma witli 

 his theory of sexual selection, which was proposed auii ably 

 defended by Darwin himself in his "Origin of Species." 



"This form of selection depends, not on a struggle for 

 existence in relation to other organic beiiig-s or to external 

 conditions, but on a struggle between the indivitluals of one 

 sex, generally the males, for the possession of the other sex. 



