PREFERENCES IN PAIRING. 
2G9 
Cir. 
Ap - XVII. 
quadrupeds, which stand higher in the scale of 
0, 'ganisation and have higlier mental powers, did not 
kciierally, or at least often, exert some choice. The 
C'nale could in most cases escape, if wooed by a male 
'at did not please or excite her; and when pursued, 
so incessantly occurs, by several males, she would 
^ten have the opportunity, whilst they were fighting 
l °gether, of escaping with, or at least of temporarily 
hairing with, some one male. This latter contingency 
as often been observed in Scotland with female red- 
eei ’> as I have been informed by Sir Philip Egerton . 39 
It is scarcely possible that much should be known 
,0 ut female quadrupeds exerting in a state of nature 
aa .V choice in their marriage unions. The following 
V O o 
er y curious details on the courtship of one of the 
6iil ‘ed seals, Gallorhinus ursinus, are given 40 on the 
3l 'thority of Capt. Bryant, who had ample opportunities 
l( ° 1 ' observation. He says, “Many of the females on 
l( tueir arrival at the island where they breed appear 
losirous of returning to some particular male, and 
, h’^quently climb the outlying rocks to overlook the 
I'ookcrics, calling out and listening as if for a familiar 
Voice. 
same 
Then changing to another place they do the 
As soon as a female reaches the 
again . . 
i( s We, the nearest male goes down to meet her, making 
"‘can while a noise like the clucking of a hen to her 
chickens. He bows to her and coaxes her until he 
gets between her and the water so that she cannot 
escape him. Then his manner changes, and with a 
Mr. Boner in his excellent description of the habits of the red- 
« e ® r Germany (‘Forest Creatures,’ 1801, p. 81) says, “ while the 
a sta S is defending his rights against one intruder, another invades the 
n san ctuary of his harem, and carries off trophy after trophy.” Exactly 
^ s anie thing occurs with seals, see Mr. J. A. Allen, ibid. p. 100. 
Mr. J. A. Allen in ‘ Bull. Mus. Comp. Zoolog. of Cambridge, United 
tatc s,’ vol. ii. No. 1, p. 99. 
