Male Attractiveness 
‘Again, the most beautiful males are often 
extremely combative; and on the conventional 
view this is a mere coincidence, yet a most 
unfortunate one for Mr Darwin’s view. Battle 
thus constantly decides the question of pairing, 
and in cases where, by hypothesis, the female 
should have most choice, she has simply to yield 
to the victor.” 
Darwin, with characteristic fairness, quotes 
some instances which appear to be opposed to 
the theory that the hen selects the most beauti- 
ful of her suitors. He informs us that Messrs 
Hewitt, Tegetmeier, and Brent, who have all 
had a long experience of domesticated birds, 
“do not believe that the females prefer certain 
males on account of the beauty of their plumage. 
... Mr Tegetmeier is convinced that a game- 
cock, though disfigured by being dubbed and 
with his hackles trimmed, would be accepted as 
readily as a male retaining all his natural orna- 
ments. Mr Brent, however, admits that the 
beauty of the male probably aids in exciting the 
female ; and her acquiescence is necessary. Mr 
Hewitt is convinced that the union is by no 
means left to mere chance, for the female almost 
invariably prefers the most vigorous, defiant, and 
mettlesome male”; and, in consequence, when 
there is a game-cock in the farmyard, the hens 
will all resort to him in preference to the cock 
of their own breed. Darwin thinks that “some 
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