SEXUAL SELECTION 639 



young, and when adult are white; and more especially 

 from the case of the Ardea gularis, the colors of which 

 are the reverse of those of A. asha, for the young are 

 dark colored and the adults white, the young having re- 

 tained a former state of plumage. It appears, therefore, 

 that during a long line of descent the adult progenitors of 

 the Ardea asha, the Buphus, and of some allies, have un- 

 dergone the following changes of color: first, a dark shade; 

 secondly, pure white; and thirdly, owing to another change 

 of fashion (if I may so express myself), their present slaty, 

 reddish, or golden-buff tints. These successive changes are 

 intelligible only on the principle of novelty having been 

 admired by birds for its own sake. 



Several writers have objected to the whole theory of 

 sexual selection, by assuming that with animals and sav- 

 ages the taste of the female for certain colors or other or- 

 naments would not remain constant for many generations; 

 that first one color and then another would be admired, 

 and consequently that no permanent effect could be pro- 

 duced. We may admit that taste is fluctuating, but it is 

 not quite arbitrary. It depends much on habit, as we see 

 in mankind; and we may infer that this would hold good 

 with birds and other animals. Even in our own dress, the 

 general character lasts long, and the changes are, to a cer- 

 tain extent, graduated. Abundant evidence will be given 

 in two places in a future chapter that savages of many 

 races have admired for many generations the same cica- 

 trices on the skin, the same hideously perforated lips, nos- 

 trils, or ears, distorted heads, etc. ; and these deformities 

 present some analogy to the natural ornaments of various 

 animals. Nevertheless, with savages such fashions do not 

 endure forever, as we may infer from the differences in 

 this respect between allied tribes on the same continent. 

 So, again, the raisers of fancy animals certainly have ad- 

 mired for many generations, and still admire, the same 

 breeds; they earnestly desire slight changes, which are 

 considered as improvements, but any great or sudden 



