90 DARWINISM AND THE PROBLEMS OF LIFE 



seen a turkey-hen enchanted by the tail and comb of its 

 mate ? I do not think so. 



In the case of the turkey, in fact, the idea forces itself 

 on us that the male does not dance for the pleasure of 

 his wives, but from anger and fighting spirit. The 

 inflated, red-combed cock "dances" before human 

 beings and dogs as well as before his hen. 



I believe that we have here the key to all these 

 "courtship-phenomena." They are connected with the 

 fights of the males, and must be explained as serving to 

 frighten away rivals. In the first place, it is quite clear 

 that double courtship of a female need not always lead 

 to fighting. If a male on the quest of love finds a rival 

 before him that seems so savage and powerful that he 

 himself would probably come off second, he will 

 generally not fight, but retire into the background and 

 look for satisfaction elsewhere. 



But it is obviously not necessary that every fearsome- 

 looking male is particularly strong in point of fact ; 

 it is enough that he should seem to be so, as the 

 rivals are then not likely to put it to the test. Means 

 of frightening others away are not uncommon in the 

 animal world. A hunted cat makes its fur stand out so 

 as to seem bigger than it is. We can, in fact, readily 

 believe that the manes of many animals, such as the 

 stag, are intended to make the neck seem bigger and 

 stronger, and so may have been brought about by this 

 sort of sexual selection.^ 



^ Weismann thinks that the lion's mane is due to the fact that, in 

 the fights of the males, those had the advantage whose necks were 

 protected by thicker hair from the teeth of their opponents. This 

 theory is unsatisfactory. There are many animals with manes that do 



