to be regarded as a performance slowly perfected through 

 long generations through the selection of females, coy and 

 hard to please. We must regard these " Nuptial flights " 

 and wing-displays as the outward and visible signs of a state 

 of ecstatic amorousness on the part of the males which, by 

 their persistence and frequent recurrence, at last arouse 

 sympathetic response in the females. They play the part 

 of an aphrodisiac. Without them there would be no mating. 

 In my Courtship of Animals those who Will may pursue this 

 subject further. 



Before closing this chapter mention must be made of 

 the most remarkable wing-display to bft found among birds, 

 and of the equally remarkable uses to which they are put. 

 The possessor of these wonderful appendages, for they are 

 wonderful, is the argus pheasant of the Malay Peninsula 

 and Borneo. Though efficient for short flights in jungles, 

 all that is ever required of them, they would be quite useless 

 in open country where an extended journey had to be made, 

 or escape attempted from some vigorous enemy. And this 

 because the secondary wing-quills — the quiUy attached to 

 the forearm — are of enormous length, making, as we have 

 remarked, sustained flight impossible. They have, indeed, 

 come dangerously near losing their normal functions alto- 

 gether. And this because they have passed over into the 

 category of specialized " secondary sexual characters." But 



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