SEXUAL SELECTION IN BIRDS. 167 



satisfying its sexual instinct, why should there be all this emula- 

 tion and strife ? Again — this perhaps is a clearer indication — I 

 have this morning seen three endeavours, I think by as many 

 Ruffs, to force the compliance of the female, each one of which 

 was unsuccessful ; and, moreover, there must be something of 

 conjugal relations amongst these birds, as for many days, last 

 year, as I came down to the lands, and again when I returned, I 

 used to see a Ruff standing in the near neighbourhood of a 

 certain nest, with eggs, and that the bird incubating these was 

 his mate there can, I think, be little doubt. This, however, is 

 perhaps less irreconcilable with polygamy than with polyandry, 

 and the fact that I certainly saw the brown Ruff, this morning, 

 pair with at least two Reeves, whilst two others were close about 

 him, seems against the latter view.* But if each male who pairs 

 at all has more than one hetaira, and as many as he has are true 

 to him, how can five husbands be chosen by only eight wives ? 

 Perhaps, therefore, the Reeves are really more numerous than I 

 have been thinking. 



Supposing there to be promiscuity on the part of both 

 sexes, would this, in the first place, lessen the fertility of the 

 female ? and, secondly, whether it did or did not, how would 

 it affect the question of sexual selection ? Supposing a small 

 number of Reeves to be shared between a much larger number 

 of Ruffs, yet choice might still be exercised by the former, and, 

 if it were, it would still be the most attractive males that would 

 be first and most often selected, for, as far as I have been able to 

 see, certain Ruffs were selected by certain Reeves before any 

 others, and of these, one — the brown bird — must have paired 

 more than twice as often as all the others together, even on this 

 one morning, when three or four more were also selected, since 

 he did so, perhaps, a score of times. Moreover, besides that, 

 three attempts to force the female bird have been unsuccessful, as 

 mentioned before, one Reeve, at least, just before pairing with the 

 attractive male, so often specified, had refused the ardent solicita- 

 tions of another. This other was, if I mistake not, the blue bird— 

 also ajoli gargon — and it was he, too, who on one of the occasions 

 referred to failed in his attempt. These facts, as it. appears to 

 me, are good evidence of choice being exercised by the female. 



* See, however, further evidence, pp. 181, 182, and in continuation. 



