| → their 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| with the most elaborate care, and show off in the best manner their 1872 |
|
| ↑ 1 blocks not present in 1859 1860 1861 1866 1872; present in 1869 |
| It may appear childish to attribute any effect to such apparently weak means:
|
|
| → It may appear childish to attribute any effect to such apparently weak means: I 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| I 1869 1872 |
|
| → to support this view; 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| details; 1869 1872 |
|
| → elegant carriage and beauty 1859 1860 1861 1866 1869 |
| beauty and an elegant carriage 1872 |
|
| → I strongly suspect that 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| OMIT 1869 1872 |
|
| → be explained on the view of plumage having been chiefly modified by 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| be explained through the action of 1869 |
| partly be explained through the action of 1872 |
|
| → individual males have 1859 1860 1861 1866 |
| by individual males having 1869 1872 |
|
|
believe that there is the severest rivalry between the males of many species to
by
the females. The rock-thrush of Guiana, birds of
and some others, congregate; and successive males display
→their
gorgeous
perform strange antics before the females,
standing by as spectators, at last choose the most attractive partner. Those who have closely attended to birds in confinement well know that they often take individual preferences and
thus Sir R. Heron has described how
pied peacock was eminently attractive to all his hen birds. ↑ →It may appear childish to attribute any effect to such apparently weak means: I
cannot here enter on the
necessary
→to support this view;
but if man can in a short time give
→elegant carriage and beauty
to his bantams, according to his standard of beauty, I can see no good reason to doubt that female birds, by selecting, during thousands of generations, the most melodious or beautiful males, according to their standard of beauty, might produce a marked effect.
→I strongly suspect that
well-known
with respect to the plumage of male and female birds, in comparison with the plumage of the young, can
→be explained on the view of plumage having been chiefly modified by
sexual
acting when the birds have come to the breeding age or during the breeding season; the modifications thus produced being inherited at corresponding ages or seasons, either by the males alone, or by the males and females; but I have not space here to enter on this subject.
|
|
| Thus it is, as I believe, that when the males and females of any animal have the same general habits of life, but differ in structure, colour, or ornament, such differences have been mainly caused by sexual
that is,
→individual males have
had, in successive generations, some slight advantage over other
|
