XI COLOUR AND SONG 313 
plausibly that the selected males would pair earlier, 
and thus have time for a second or third brood. It 
must be owned that the evidence of female preference 
is deficient. Sometimes when the Peacock is making 
the most of himself, the Peahen looks the other way. 
Sometimes he shows off to men, or even, it is said, to 
pigs. Most of the instances of a hen-bird falling in 
iove with a particular cock-bird seem to show caprice 
rather than a regulated taste for the beautiful. A male 
Blackbird and a Thrush pair together. Out of a flock 
of twenty-three Canada Geese one pairs with a 
solitary Bernicle Gander. A male Wigeon, living 
with others of the same species, has been known to 
pair with a Pintail Duck. Wehave also the damaging 
fact that some Pigeons dyed with magenta were not 
much noticed by the others. But there is some really 
valuable evidence from Audubon’s Ornithological Bio- 
graphy that in the United States hen Woodpeckers, 
Red-winged Starlings, and Nightjars actually do make 
a choice among several suitors. Again, persons who 
have had great experience of Canaries maintain that 
a hen-bird will choose out the best singer. But, when 
it is all added up, the direct evidence does not amount 
to much; and there is adverse evidence such as this, 
that the cock of the farmyard, who has beaten his 
rivals in battle, does not lose caste though all his 
plumes are draggled. The arguments often brought 
against this theory are not necessarily fatal—(1) that 
it presupposes a highly cultivated zsthetic taste in 
the hen-birds; (2) that selection by battle and by 
female preference cannot go on at the same time ; (3) 
that some birds sing at all times of the year. It is not 
