Free Nineteenth Century Thought by Anand Prakash Page A

love.
It is incredible that all this display should be purposeless. Lastly we have
distinct evidence with some quadrupeds and birds that the individuals of the
one sex are capable of feeling a strong antipathy or preference 20 for certain individuals of the opposite sex.
    Bearing
these facts in mind, and not forgetting the marked results of man's unconscious
selection, it seems to me almost certain that if the individuals of one sex
were during a long series of generations to prefer pairing with certain
individuals of the other sex, characterized 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 larger number of offspring to inherit their
superiority in ornaments or other charms than the less attractive males; but I have
shown that this would probably follow from the females-especially the more
vigorous females 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 bowerbirds of Australia, and although they certainly
appreciate the power of song, yet I fully admit that it is an astonishing fact
that the females of many birds and some mammals should be endowed with
sufficient taste for what has apparently been effected through sexual
selection; and this is even more astonishing in the case of reptiles, fish, and
insects.
    ANNOTATIONS
    20.       Strong antipathy or preference: These
indicate clear visible behaviour in animals and are seen to go a long way to
determine various species in the biological sphere. Both antipathy and
preference get linked up with 'unconscious selection' in the next para.
Unconscious means natural.
     
    But
we really know very little about the minds of the lower animals. It cannot be
supposed that male birds of paradise or peacocks, for instance, should take so
much 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, namely 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 be able to appreciate
the exquisite shading of the ball-and-socket ornaments and the elegant patterns
on the wing feathers 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, as well as the primary feathers, are displayed in a
manner quite peculiar to this one species during the act of courtship, and at
no other time, 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 females having preferred during
many generations the more highly ornamented males 21 ; the aesthetic capacity
of the females having been advanced through exercise or habit in the same
manner as our own taste is gradually improved. In the male, through the fortunate
chance of a few feathers not having been modified, we can distinctly see how
simple spots with a little fulvous 22 shading on one side might have
been developed by small and graduated steps into the wonderful ball-and-socket ornaments;
and it is probable that they were actually thus developed . * * *
    ANNOTATIONS
    21.       More
highly ornamented males: This hypothesis of Darwin is based on
observations alone, hence the conjectural nature of the