74 CONTROLLED NATURAL SELECTION 
female, unequal in value, associated together, 
and at a time when the difference in their 
values is greatest, 7.c. during the breeding 
season; the male, the less valuable, renders 
himself conspicuous in many ways ; the female 
keeps more or less concealed. Here are two 
associated individuals of different value, pre- 
senting different characters. According to 
the Theory, these characters, or at least some 
of them, should control Natural Selection in 
such a way that the less valuable male will 
be taken, rather than the more valuable female. 
Further, at this time, the pair are especially 
liable to be successfully attacked, because 
their attention is fully occupied with sexual 
affairs ; so that some provision for the selec- 
tion of the male may be expected. Therefore 
may it not be, that the male renders himself 
conspicuous in order that, in the event of the 
pair being attacked by an enemy, he may be 
destroyed rather than the female? The Hawk 
will stoop, the Cat will spring, at the more 
easily seen bird. It does not follow that 
one of the two must in every case perish ; 
the display of the male will draw the attack 
of any neighbouring enemy and thus, as 
it were, clear the air, so that dangerous 
copulation may be accomplished in safety. 
