Chap. XVIII. 
VOCAL OEGANS. 
275 
P, Bgerton, it seems that young stags under three 
years old do not roar or bellow ; and that the old ones 
begin bellowing at the commencement of the breeding- 
season, at first only occasionally and moderately, whilst 
they restlessly wander about in search of the females. 
Their battles are prefaced by loud and prolonged bel- 
lowing, but during the actual conflict they are silent. 
Animals of all kinds which habitually use their voices, 
utter various noises under any strong emotion, as when 
enraged and preparing to fight ; but this may merely 
be the result of their nervous excitement, which leads 
to the spasmodic contraction of almost all the muscles of 
the body, as when a man grinds his teeth and clenches 
his hands in rage or agony. No doubt stags challenge 
each other to mortal combat by bellowing; but it is 
not likely that this habit could have led through 
sexual selection, that is by the loudest-voiced males 
having been the most successful in their conflicts, to 
the periodical enlargement of the vocal organs ; for the 
stags with the most powerful voices, unless at the same 
time the strongest, best-armed, and most courageous, 
would not have gained any advantage over their rivals 
with weaker voices. The stags, moreover, which had 
weaker voices, though not so well able to challenge other 
stags, would have been drawn to the place of combat as 
certainly as those with stronger voices. 
It is possible that the roaring of the lion may be 
of some actual service to him in striking terror into 
his adversary ; for when enraged he likewise erects his 
mane and thus instinctively tries to make himself ap- 
pear as terrible as possible. But it can hardly be sup- 
posed that the bellowing of the stag, even if it be of 
any service to him in this way, can have been im- 
portant enough to have led to the periodical enlarge- 
ment of the throat. Some writers suggest that the 
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