5l6 The Descent of Man. Part liL 



larger number of offspring to inherit their superiority in orna- 

 ments or other charms than the less attractive males ; but 1 

 have shewn that this would probably follow from the females, — 

 especially the more vigorous ones, which would be the first to 

 breed, — preferring not only the more attractive but at the same 

 time the more vigorous and victorious males. 



Although we have some positive evidence that birds appre- 

 ciate bright and beautiful objects, as with the bower-birds of 

 Australia, and although they certainly appreciate the power of 

 song, yet I fully admit that it is astonishing that the females 

 of many birds and some mammals should be endowed with 

 sufficient taste to appreciate ornaments, which we have reason to 

 attribute to sexual selection ; and this is even more astonishing 

 in the case of reptiles, fish, and insects. But we really know 

 little about the minds of the lower animals. It cannot be 

 supposed, for instance, that male birds of paradise or peacocks 

 should take such pains in erecting, spreading, and vibrating 

 tlieir beautiful plumes before the females for no purpose. Wo 

 should remember the fact given on excellent authority in a 

 former chapter, that several peahens, when debarred from an 

 admired male, remained widows during a whole season rather 

 than pair with another bird. 



Nevertheless I know of no fact in natural history more wonder- 

 ful than that the female Argus pheasant should appreciate the 

 exquisite shading of the ball-and-socket ornaments and the 

 elegant patterns on the wing-feathers of the male. He who 

 thinks that the male was created as he now exists must admit 

 that the great plumes, which prevent the wings from being used 

 for flight, and which are displayed during courtship and at no 

 other time in a manner quite peculiar to this one species, were 

 given to him as an ornament. If so, he must likewise admit that 

 the female was created and endowed with the capacity of appre- 

 ciating such ornaments. I differ only in the conviction that the 

 male Argus pheasant acquired his beauty gradually, through the 

 preference of the females during many generations for the more 

 highly ornamented males ; the aesthetic capacity of the females 

 having been advanced through exercise or habit, just as our own 

 taste is gradually improved. In the male through the fortunate 

 chance of a few feathers being left unchanged, we can distinctly 

 trace how simple spots with a little fulvous shading on one side 

 may have been developed by small steps into the wonderful 

 ball-and-socket ornaments; and it is probable that they were 

 actually thus developed. 



Everyone who admits the principle of evolution, and yel 

 foels great difficulty in admitting that female mammals, birdf. 



