Notes on Sexual Selection.



215



IV. Song is much noticed by females in some cases; hen

canaries often annoy breeders by “ pairing by the voice ”

with undesired mates ; and the hens of some of the

almost dumb (to our ears) Mannikins (Munia) listen

intently to the song of the males.


V. In species where the female is superior she calls most, or

most strongly ; but such birds never have an elaborate

song, any more than structural decorations.


VI. A species may combine the two attributes of high colour

and structural decoration and a musical voice, though

this is rare, an example being the King Bird of Paradise

(Cicinnurus regius), but many bright-plumaged birds sing

very well, e.g. Goldfinch, Pekin Robin ( Liothrix luteus),

Virginian Cardinal.


But the very best songsters of all are usually plain, though

the majority of plain birds, it must be remembered, are no better

singers than the gaudy ones. Exceptional song, like exceptional

plumage, is a rare gift, and as in the case of plumage, we find

great differences among near allies.


With regard to the other amenities of courtship, gifts of

caresses, we have to notice:—


I. The male generally feeds the female, not vice versa.


II. Feeding may be done from the crop, in which case it often

runs in families, e.g. all cock parrots and pigeons feed

their females, though all finches do not ; or the food

may be brought and given from the beak, in which case

there are differences in the practice of members of the

same family, e.g. the common cock, the Satyr Tragopan

( Cerior?iis satyr a), and the Peacock Pheasant {Polyplectron

chinquis) feed their females, but the Common, Gold and

Amherst Pheasants do not, nor does the Peacock.

Among the ducks, the Carolina (Aex sponsa) alone seems

to feed the female.


III. In many birds no love feeding is ever done, as in the case


of the Sparrow.


IV. Among birds with masculine attributes in the female, the


lieu Hemipodes feed their males, as Mr. D. Seth-Smith

has shown.



