410 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



"comer caressingly, though he appeared evidently alarmed and 

 "averse to her overtures of affection. From that hour she forgot 

 "her old partner. Winter passed by, and the next spring the Pin- 

 "tail seemed to have become a convert to her blandishments, for 

 "they nested and produced seven or eight young ones." 



What the charm may have been in these several cases, beyond 

 mere novelty, we cannot even conjecture. Color, however, some- 

 times comes into play; for in order to raise hybrids from the sis- 

 kin (Fringilla spinus) and the canary, it is much the best plan, 

 according to Bechstein, to place birds of the same tint together, 

 Mr. Jenner Weir turned a female canary into his aviary, 

 where there were male linnets, goldfinches, siskins, greenfinches, 

 chafiinches, and other birds, in order to see which she would 

 choose; but there never was any doubt, and the greenfinch carried 

 the day. They paired and produced hybrid offspring. 



The fact of the female preferring to pair with one male rather 

 than with another of the same species, is not so likely to excite at- 

 tention, as when this occurs, as we have just seen, between dis- 

 tinct species. The former cases can best be observed with domes- 

 ticated or confined birds; but these are often pampered by high 

 feeding, and sometimes have their instincts vitiated to an extreme 

 degree. Of this latter fact I could give sufficient proofs with pig- 

 eons, and especially with fowls, but they cannot be here related. 

 Vitiated instincts may also account for some of the hybrid unions 

 above mentioned; but in many of these cases the birds were al- 

 lowed to range freely over large ponds, and there is no reason to 

 suppose that they were unnaturally stimulated by high feeding. 



With respect to birds in a state of nature, the first and most 

 obvious supposition which will occur to every one is that the 

 female at the proper season accepts the first male whom she may 

 encounter; but she has at least the opportunity for exerting a 

 choice, as she is almost invariably pursued by many males. 

 Audubon — and we must remember that he spent a long life in 

 prowling about the forests of the United States and observing 

 the birds — does not doubt that the female deliberately chooses 

 her mate; thus, speaking of a woodpecker, he says the hen is fol- 

 lowed by half-a-dozen gay suitors, who continue performing 

 strange antics, "until a marked preference is shown for one." 

 The female of the red-winged starling (Agelseus phoeniceus) is 

 likewise pursued by several males, "until, becoming fatigued, 

 "she alights, receives their addresses, and soon makes a choice." 

 He describes also how several male night-jars repeatedly plunge 

 through the air with astonishing rapidity, suddenly turning, and 

 thus making a singular noise, "but no sooner has the female 

 "made her choice, than the other males are driven away." With 

 one of the vultures (Cathartes aura) of the United States, parties 

 of eight, ten, or more malfs and females assemble on fallen logs, 



