SEXUAL SELECTION ^6& 



one of the extinct woolly species — and of the African ele- 

 phant, have been known to weigh respectively 150, 160, 

 and 180 pounds; and even greater weights have been 

 given by some authors." With deer, in which the horna 

 are periodically renewed, the drain on the constitution 

 must be greater; the horns, for instance, of the moose 

 weigh from fifty to sixty pounds", and those of the extinct 

 Irish elk from sixty to seventy poinds — the skull of the 

 latter weighing on an average only five pounds and a 

 quarter. Although the horns are not periodically re- 

 newed in sheep, yet their development, in the opinion of 

 many agriculturists, entails a sensible loss to the breeder. 

 Stags, moreover, in escaping from beasts of prey are loaded 

 with an additional weight for the race, and are greatly re- 

 tarded in passing through a woody country. The moose, 

 for instance, with horns extending five and a half feet from 

 tip to tip, although so skilful in their use that he will not 

 touch or break a twig when walking quietly, cannot act so 

 dexterously while rushing away from a pack of wolves. 

 "During his progress he holds his nose up, so as to lay 

 the horns horizontally back; and in this attitude cannot 

 see the ground distinctly." " The tips of the horns of 

 the great Irish elk were actually eight feet apart! While 

 the horns are covered with velvet, which lasts with the red- 

 deer for about twelve weeks, they are extremely sensitive to 

 a blow; so that in Germany the stags at this time somewhat 

 change their habits, and, avoiding dense forests, frequent 

 young woods and low thickets." These facts remind us 

 that male birds have acquired ornamental plumes at the 

 cost of retarded flight, and other ornaments at the cost of 

 some loss of power in their battles with rival males. 



With mammals, when, as is often the case, the sexes 



"» Emerson Tennent;, "Ceylon," 1859, vol. ii. p. 2'rS; Owen, "British Fossil 

 Mammals," 1846, p. 245. 



** Richardson, "Fauna Bor. Americana," on the moose, Alces palmata, 

 pp. 236, 23T; on the expanse of the horns, "Land and Water," 1869, p. 143. 

 See, also, Owen, "British Fossil Mammals," on the Irish elk, pp. 447, 456. 



35 "Forest Creatures," by C. Boner, 1861, p. 60. 



