Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- POSTSCRIPT
- PART II SEXUAL SELECTION—continued
- CHAPTER XII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF FISHES, AMPHIBIANS, AND REPTILES
- CHAPTER XIII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF BIRDS
- CHAPTER XIV BIRDS—continued
- CHAPTER XV BIRDS—continued
- CHAPTER XVI BIRDS—concluded
- CHAPTER XVII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS
- CHAPTER XVIII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS—continued
- CHAPTER XIX SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN
- CHAPTER XX SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN—continued
- CHAPTER XXI GENERAL SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
- INDEX
CHAPTER XIII - SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF BIRDS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- POSTSCRIPT
- PART II SEXUAL SELECTION—continued
- CHAPTER XII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF FISHES, AMPHIBIANS, AND REPTILES
- CHAPTER XIII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF BIRDS
- CHAPTER XIV BIRDS—continued
- CHAPTER XV BIRDS—continued
- CHAPTER XVI BIRDS—concluded
- CHAPTER XVII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS
- CHAPTER XVIII SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAMMALS—continued
- CHAPTER XIX SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN
- CHAPTER XX SECONDARY SEXUAL CHARACTERS OF MAN—continued
- CHAPTER XXI GENERAL SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
- INDEX
Summary
Secondary sexual characters are more diversified and conspicuous in birds, though not perhaps entailing more important changes of structure, than in any other class of animals. I shall, therefore, treat the subject at considerable length. Male birds sometimes, though rarely, possess special weapons for fighting with each other. They charm the females by vocal or instrumental music of the most varied kinds. They are ornamented by all sorts of combs, wattles, protuberances, horns, airdistended sacs, topknots, naked shafts, plumes and lengthened feathers gracefully springing from all parts of the body. The beak and naked skin about the head, and the feathers are often gorgeously coloured. The males sometimes pay their court by dancing, or by fantastic antics performed either on the ground or in the air. In one instance, at least, the male emits a musky odour which we may suppose serves to charm or excite the female; for that excellent observer, Mr. Ramsay, says of the Australian musk-duck (Biziura lobata) that “the “smell which the male emits during the summer “months is confined to that sex, and in some indi-“viduals is retained throughout the year; I have never “even in the breeding-season, shot a female which had “any smell of musk.” So powerful is this odour during the pairing-season, that it can be detected long before the bird can be seen. On the whole, birds appear to be the most æsthetic of all animals, excepting of course man, and they have nearly the same taste for the beautiful as we have.
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- The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex , pp. 38 - 98Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2009First published in: 1871