SEXUAL SELECTION 537 



often pampered by high feeding, and sometimes have their 

 instincts vitiated to an extreme degree. Of this latter fact 

 I could give sufficient proofs with pigeons, and especially 

 with fowls, but they cannot be here related. Vitiated in- 

 stincts may also account for some of the hybrid unions 

 above mentioned; but in many of these cases the birds 

 were allowed to range freely over large ponds, and there 

 is no reason to suppose that they were unnaturally stimu- 

 lated by high feeding. 



With respect to birds in a state of nature, the first and 

 most obvious supposition which will occur to every one is 

 that the female at the proper season accepts the first male 

 whom she may encounter; but she has at least the oppor- 

 tunity for exerting a choice, as she is almost invariably 

 pursued by many males. Audubon — and we must remem- 

 ber that he spent a long life in prowling about the forests 

 of the United States and observing the birds — does not 

 doubt that the female deliberately chooses her mate; thus, 

 speaking of a woodpecker, he says the hen is followed by 

 half a dozen gay suitors, who continue performing strange 

 antics, "until a marked preference is shown for one." The 

 female of the red-winged starling [Ageloeus phoeniceus) is 

 likewise pursued by several males, "until, becoming fa- 

 tigued, she alights, receives their addresses, and soon 

 makes a choice." He describes also how several male 

 night-jars repeatedly plunge through the air with aston- 

 ishing rapidity, suddenly turning, and thus making a sin- 

 gular noise; "but no sooner has the female made her choice 

 than the other males are driven away." With one of the 

 vultures {Cathartea aura) of the United States, parties of 

 eight, ten, or more males and females assemble on fallen 

 logs, "exhibiting the strongest desire to please mutually," 

 and, after many caresses, each male leads off his partner 

 on the wing. Audubon likewise carefully observed the 

 wild flocks of Canada geese {Anser canadensis), and gives 

 a graphic description of their love-antics ; he says that the 

 birds which had been previously mated "renewed their 



