GAY PLUMES AND DULL 



idea as to the effect of the social instinct upon the 

 colors of animals. I only throw it out as a sugges- 

 tion. 



When we come to the reproductive principle or 

 instinct, then do we strike a dominating influence; 

 then is there contrast and excess and riot; then are 

 there positive colors and showy ornaments; then 

 are there bright flowers, red, orange, white, blue; 

 then are there gaudy plumes of birds, and obtrusive 

 forms and appendages in mammals. The old 

 modesty and moderation of nature are abandoned. 

 It is not now a question of harmony and quietude, 

 but of continuing the species. Masses of color ap- 

 pear in the landscape; silent animals become noisy; 

 birds burst into song, or strut and dance and pose 

 before one another; the marshes are vocal; hawks 

 scream and soar; a kind of madness seizes all forms 

 of life; the quail whistles; the grouse drums in the 

 woods, or booms upon the prairie; the shellfish in 

 the sea, and the dull turtle upon the land, feel the 

 new impulse that thrills through nature. The car- 

 nival of the propagating instinct is at hand. For 

 this, and begotten by this, are the gaudy colors and 

 the beautiful and the grotesque ornaments. 



As a rule, the females are not implicated in this 

 movement or craze to the extent that the males are. 

 Even among the flowering plants and trees in which 

 the two sexes are separated, the male is showy 

 while the female is inconspicuous. The pollen-yield- 

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