in some peculiar manner, the offspring would slowly but surely become
modified in this same manner. I have not attempted to conceal that,
excepting when the males are more numerous than the females, or when
polygamy prevails, it is doubtful how the more attractive males succeed
in leaving a large number of offspring to inherit their superiority in
ornaments or other charms than the less attractive males; but I have
shewn that this would probably follow from the females, especially the
more vigorous ones, which would be the first to breed, preferring not
only the more attractive but at the same time the more vigorous and
victorious males.
Although we have some positive evidence that birds appreciate bright
and beautiful objects, as with the bower-birds of Australia, and
although they certainly appreciate the power of song, yet I fully admit
that it is astonishing that the females of many birds and some mammals
should be endowed with sufficient taste to appreciate ornaments, which
we have reason to attribute to sexual selection; and this is even more
astonishing in the case of reptiles, fish, and insects. But we really
know little about the minds of the lower animals. It cannot be
supposed, for instance, that male birds of paradise or peacocks should
take such pains in erecting, spreading, and vibrating their beautiful
plumes before the females for no purpose. We should remember the fact
given on excellent authority in a former chapter, that several peahens,
when debarred from an admired male, remained widows during a whole
season rather than pair with another bird.
Nevertheless I know of no fact in natural history more wonderful than
that the female Argus pheasant should appreciate the exquisite shading
of the ball-and-socket ornaments and the elegant patterns on the
wing-feather of the male. He who thinks that the male was created as he
now exists must admit that the great plumes, which prevent the wings
from being used for flight, and which are displayed during courtship
and at no other time in a manner quite peculiar to this one species,
were given to him as an ornament. If so, he must likewise admit that
the female was created and endowed with the capacity of appreciating
such ornaments. I differ only in the conviction that the male Argus
pheasant acquired his beauty gradually, through the preference of the
females during many generations for the more highly ornamented males;
the aesthetic capacity of the females having been advanced through
exercise or habit, just as our own taste is gradually improved. In the
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