516 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



The case of the male Argus pheasant is eminently inter- 

 esting, because it affords good evidence that the most re- 

 fined beauty may serve as a sexual charm, and for no other 

 purpose. We must conclude that this is the case, as the 

 secondary and primary wing-feathers are not at all dis- 

 played, and the ball and socket ornaments are not exhibited 

 in full perfection, until the male assumes the attitude of 

 courtship. The Argus pheasant does not possess brilliant 

 colors, so that his success in love appears to depend on the 

 great size of his plumes, and on the elaboration of the most 

 elegant patterns. Many will declare that it is utterly in- 

 credible that a female bird should be able to appreciate 

 fine shading and exquisite patterns. It is undoubtedly a 

 marvellous fact that she should possess this almost human 

 degree of taste. He who thinks that he can safely gauge 

 the discrimination and taste of the lower animals may deny 

 that the female Argus pheasant can appreciate such refined 

 beauty; but he will then be compelled to admit that the 

 extraordinary attitudes assumed by the male during the act 

 of courtship, by which the wonderful beauty of his plumage 

 is fully displayed, are purposeless; and this is a conclusion 

 which I for one will never admit. 



Although so many pheasants and allied gallinaceous 

 birds carefully display their plumage before the females, 

 it is remarkable, as Mr. Bartlett informs me, that this is not 

 the case with the dull-colored Bared and Cheer pheasants 

 {^Grossoptilon auritum and Phasianus wallichii); so that these 

 birds seem conscious that they have little beauty to display. 

 Mr. Bartlett has never seen the males of either of these 

 species fighting together, though he has not had such good 

 opportunities for observing the Cheer as the Bared pheasant. 

 Mr. Jenner Weir, also, finds that all male birds with rich 

 or strongly characterized plumage are more quarrelsome 

 than the dull-colored species belonging to the same groups. 

 The goldfinch, for instance, is far more pugnacious than the 

 linnet, and the blackbird than the thrush. Those birds 

 wJiich undergo a seasonal change of plumage likewise 



