268 THE HISTORY OF CREATION, 
melodious to us, but which please the female grasshoppers 
so much that they choose the male who fiddles the best. 
Among other insects and birds it is not song or, in fact, 
any musical accomplishment, but finery or beauty of the 
one sex which attracts the other. Thus we find that, among 
most gallinaceous birds, the cocks are distinguished by combs 
on their heads, or by a beautiful tail, which they can spread 
out like a fan; as for example, in the case of the peacock 
and turkey-cock. The magnificent tail of the bird of para- 
dise is also an exclusive ornament of the male sex. In like 
manner, among very many other birds and very many 
insects, principally among butterflies, the males are dis- 
tinguished from the females by special colours or other 
decorations. These are evidently the results of sexual 
selection. As the females do not possess these attractions 
and decorations, we must come to the conclusion that they 
have been acquired by degrees by the males in the competi- 
tion for the females, which takes its origin in the selective 
discrimination of the females. ; 
We may easily picture to ourselves, in detail, the ap- 
plication of this interesting conclusion to the human com- 
munity. Here, also, the same causes have evidently in- 
fluenced the development of the secondary sexual characters. 
The characteristics distinguishing the man, as well as those 
distinguishing the woman, owe their origin, certainly for the 
most part, to the sexual selection of the other sex. In an- 
tiquity and in the Middle Ages, especially in the romantic 
age of chivalry, it was the bodily struggles to the death—the 
tournaments and duels—which determined the choice of the 
bride; the strongest carried home the bride. In more recent 
times, however, in our so-called “ polished” or “ highly civil- 
