Chap. IV.] SEXUAL SELECTION. 109 



with the conqueror. The war is, perhaps, severest be- 

 tween the males of polygamous animals, and these seem 

 oftenest provided with special weapons. The males of 

 carnivorous animals are already well armed; though to 

 them and to others, special means of defence may be given 

 through means of sexual selection, as the mane of the lion, 

 and the hooked jaw to the male salmon; for the shield 

 may be as important for victory, as the sword or spear. 



Amongst birds, the contest is often of a more peace- 

 ful character. All those who have attended to the sub- 

 ject, believe that there is the severest rivalry between the 

 males of many species to attract, by singing, the females. 

 The rock-thrush of Guiana, birds of paradise, and some 

 others, congregate; and successive males display with 

 the most elaborate care, and show off in the best manner, 

 their gorgeous plumage; they likewise perform strange 

 antics before the females, which, standing by as spec- 

 tators, at last choose the most attractive partner. Those 

 who have closely attended to birds in confinement well 

 know that they often take individual preferences and 

 dislikes: thus Sir E. Heron has described how a pied 

 peacock was eminently attractive to all his hen birds. 

 I cannot here enter on the necessary details; but if man 

 can in a short time give beauty and an elegant carriage 

 to his bantams, according to his standard of beauty, I 

 can see no jgood reason to doubt that female birds, by 

 selecting, during thousands of generations, the most 

 melodious or beautiful males, according to their stand- 

 ard of beauty, might produce a marked effect. Some 

 well-known laws, with respect to the plumage of male 

 and female birds, in comparison with the plumage of the 

 young, can partly be explained through the action of 

 sexual selection on variations occurring at different ages, 



