120 
SEXUAL SELECTION : BIRDS. 
Pabt ip. 
hens have frequently great preference to a par- 
ticular peacock. They were all so fond of an old pied 
cock, that one year, when he was confined though 
still in view, they were constantly assembled close* 
to the trellice-walls of his prison, and would not suffer 
a japanned peacock to touch them. On his being let 
^^out in the autumn, the oldest of the hens instantly 
courted him, and was successful in her courtship. 
The next year he was shut up in a stable, and then 
the hens all courted his rival.” This rival was a 
japanned or black-winged peacock, which to our eyes 
is a more beautiful bird than the common kind. 
Lichtenstein, who was a good observer and had 
excellent opportunities of observation at the Cape of 
Good Hope, assured Eudolphi that the female widow- 
bird {Cher a jprogne) disowns the male, when robbed of 
the long tail-feathers with which he is ornamented 
during the breeding-season. I presume that this ob- 
servation must have been made on birds under con- 
finement.^^ Here is another striking case ; Dr. Jaeger 
director of the Zoological Gardens of Vienna, states 
that a male silver-pheasant, who had been triumphant 
over the other males and was the accepted lover of the 
females, had his ornamental plumage spoiled. He 
was then immediately superseded by a rival, who got 
the upper hand and afterwards led the flock. 
Not only does the female exert a choice, but in some 
few cases she courts the male, or even fights for his 
possession. Sir E. Heron states that with peafowl, the 
^ Proc. Zool. Soo.’ 1835, p. 54. The japanned peacock is con- 
sidered by Mr. Sclater as a distinct species, and has been named 
Favo nigripennis. 
26 Eudolphi, ‘ Beytrage zur Anthropologie,’ 1812, s. 184. 
2J' ‘ Die Darwin’sche Theorie, und ihre Stellung zu Moral und 
Eeligion/ 1869, s. 59. 
