Female animal

“ The secondary sexual characters of the female are chiefly negative characters, the absence of those which are conspicuous in the male. She retains more of the primitive characters of the race. This is the rule in regard to the animal kingdom. ”

“ The human beard, an ornament commonly denied to the female sex, belongs to the same class. Similar characteristics by which210 the female sex is alone distinguished are, for example, the developed breasts, with the lactatory glands of female mammals and the pouch of the female opossum. The bodily size, also, and complexion, differs in female animals of many species from that of the male. ”

“ And this because among the higher vertebrates, as among the birds, the female exceeds in brilliance only where she also plays the rôle of wooer instead of wooed; leaving to the male the whole responsibility of rearing the family. ”

“ Here, then, in the female bird we see developed in a remarkable degree the power of discrimination, the exercise of taste, a sense of beauty, and the ability to choose—qualities which the facts brought forward by scientists show conclusively to have been acquired by the female and by her transmitted to her offspring. ”

“ The female, which never drums, flies directly to the place where the male is thus engaged, and, on approaching him, opens her wings before him, balances her body to the right and left, and then receives his caresses. ”

“ If the females among insects, birds, and many species of mammals are able to control the relations between themselves and their male mates, why should it not be inferred that the female of the human species would still be able to uphold the natural dignity of the female sex? ”

“ One thing has astonished me somewhat with regard to this species: I find that both sexes, at different times, indulge in the same performances, both in dancing and singing, and whichever sex happens to be going through its evolutions is a source of terror to the other. As both my birds acquired their very dissimilar adult colouring in September, 1900, there can be no question as to their being genuine male and female. ”

“ But if this does ever happen, may we not have here the origin—or one of the origins—of those undoubted displays made by the male bird to the female, on which the theory of sexual selection is chiefly based? ”

“ In such cases as these, where the sexes are not to be distinguished except by dissection, or having the bird in one's hands, we cannot be sure that it is always the male we see displaying to the female, and never the female to the male. ”

“ Among birds (who in erotic development far excel all other animals, not, indeed, excepting the human species, and thus must be accepted as affording the most perfect examples of sexual development) we have seen that the cases are not few in which the female equals, or even exceeds the male in size and in strength. ”

“ But there are, after all, some precise observations on mammals and birds which prove that the female shows active inclination to, or disinclination for, a particular male. If we hold fast to this fact, and add to it that the distinctive markings of the males are wonderfully developed during the period of courtship, and are displayed before the females, and that they only appear in mammals, birds, amphibians, and fishes at the time of sexual maturity, it seems to me that there can be no doubt that they are intended to fascinate the females, and to induce them to yield themselves to the males. ”

“ There are, further, some facts of observation which, even if they have not yet been fully analysed by experiment, still throw light on the matter. Although many of the most familiar birds—fowls, pheasant, peacock, duck, finches, and so forth—have bright-coloured males and drab females, with marked difference of behaviour between the sexes, there are, as we have seen, many others, such as herons, divers, swans, grebes, moorhens, and auks, in which the sexes are alike in plumage and furthermore show what may be called a “mutual” courtship in which both male and female play similar rôles. ”

“ Little seems to be known of the courtship of animals in a state of nature. Among domesticated species, however, many observations have been made by breeders going to prove that the female exerts a choice in pairing. ”

“ The sexes, although bearing a general resemblance to each other, may be readily distinguished by the smaller size of the female, by the browner hue of her wing-feathers, and by the spotting of her upper surface not being so numerous or so regular as in the male. ”

“ With all animals, except the bear and the leopard, the female is softer in disposition than the male, is more mischievous, less simple, more impulsive, and more attentive to the nurture of the young. The traces of these differentiated characteristics are more or less visible in every species, but they are especially visible where character is the more developed, and most of all in man. ”

“ These characters, he thinks, depend upon the æsthetic sense of the females. "Just as a man can give beauty, according to his standard of taste, to his male poultry, or more strictly can modify the beauty originally acquired by the parent species, ... so it appears that female birds in a state of nature, have by a long selection of the more attractive males, added to their beauty or other attractive qualities." ”

“ I have only to be changed into a woman.' The bird that has the talons of an eagle and the legs of a lion, the head of a woman and a horse's quarters—the Animal—crouched before her and licked her feet, and promised seven hundred years of plenty to this well-beloved daughter. ”

“ And at what other time does he go through those extraordinary, what one might call, gestures to the female; he does all he can to speak? At times, when he twists his neck round and turns his head upward, he appears to be imploring heaven to help him.
I could mention many similar cases, but these, I think, are sufficient to prove that the whole powers of the bird's body and mind are concentrated solely on the possession of a female. This being so, it appears to me to be highly improbable that this action can in any way refer directly to the construction of the nest. ”

“ There remain the two other characteristics which we found to be constant under all circumstances, namely, loudness and specific distinctness; and if, in addition to serving the purpose of disclosing the positions of the males, they serve to evoke some emotion in the female, which helps to further the biological end of mating, so much the more reason is there for their survival. ”

“ I tell her that there are at least seven hundred and fifty millions of two-legged, long-haired, gentle-voiced, soft-bodied, female humans like her on the planet, and that she is really swamped by the immensity of numbers of her sex and kind. ”

“ There is, however, a striking parallelism between mammals and birds in all their secondary sexual characters, namely in their weapons for fighting with rival males, in their ornamental appendages, and in their colours. In both classes, when the male differs from the female, the young of both sexes almost always resemble each other, and in a large majority of cases resemble the adult female. ”

“ It seems, therefore, that Nature does exercise an effective control over the passions of both sexes of many species in this way, i.e., by the necessary condition of the female only arising at certain definite times, and in her case this control is by some means direct, depending upon internal processes, but in the case of the male indirect, though none the less adequate. ”

“ But however violent the desires of these animals may be, they do not breed in temperate climates. The female brings forth usually but one young at a time, which she carries in her arms, and clinging as it were to her breast: she is also subject to periodical emanations. ”

“ But let me say at once that it is no easy matter to prove this, for since so many modes of behaviour, which can be interpreted as lending' support to this view, are likewise interpretable on the view that the presence of a female is a necessary condition of the fighting, it is difficult to find just the sort of evidence that is required. ”

“ We have followed the development of the male, under the action of love's selection, from his first insignificant position in the reproductive process; we have seen him becoming larger than the female, strong, jealous and masterful—in fact, a kind of fighting specialisation, with special weapons of defence for sex-battles. This is the general condition among mammals. Among birds another set of secondary character, that may be classed as beauty-tests, are more frequent. ”

“ Several males pursue a female, reach her, and, to prove the force and truth of their love, bow their heads, spread their tail, and move sidewise, backwards and forwards, performing such antics, as might induce any one witnessing them, if not of a most morose temper, to join his laugh to theirs. ”

“ Although the immense teeth, tusks, horns, and various other weapons or appendages which ornament the males of many species of mammals, have all been developed through Sexual Selection for contending with their rivals for the favours of the females, it is observed that the “most pugnacious and best armed males seldom depend for success on their ability to drive away or kill their rivals,” but that their special aim is to “charm the female.” ”

“ A minimum expression of modesty, and one having an organic rather than a social basis, is seen in the coyness of the female among animals. In many species of animals the female does not submit at once to the solicitations of the male, but only after the most arduous wooing. ”

“ We had then concluded from our examination of the sexual habits of insects, mammals, and birds that a marked differentiation between the female and the male existed already in the early stages of the development of species, and that such divergence, or sex-dimorphism, to use the biological term, becomes more and more frequent and conspicuous as we ascend to the higher types. The essential functions of females and males become more separate, their habits of life tend to diverge, and to the primary differences there are added all manner of secondary peculiarities. ”

“ The pairing of animals, even of insects, awakens a curious interest in those whose sexual dispositions are strong and precocious; they comprehend very quickly the reason and are led to draw analogies with their own sensations in the same domain. The aspect of the female sex has, however, a much stronger action still on the normal man. ”

“ I consider woman as a beautiful romantic animal, that may be adorned with furs and feathers, pearls and diamonds, ores and silks. The lynx shall cast its skin at her feet to make her a tippet; the peacock, parrot, and swan shall pay contributions to her muff; the sea shall be searched for shells, and the rocks for gems; and every part of nature furnish out its share towards the embellishment of a creature that is the most consummate work of it. ”

“ With birds, as we shall hereafter see, there has sometimes been a complete transposition of the ordinary characters proper to each sex; the females having become the more eager in courtship, the males remaining comparatively passive, but apparently selecting, as we may infer from the results, the more attractive females. Certain female birds have thus been rendered more highly coloured or otherwise ornamented, as well as more powerful and pugnacious than the males, these characters being transmitted to the female offspring alone. ”

“ The males charm the females in various ways, such as dancing, or performing fantastic antics either in the air or on the ground; and then again by most melodious song. After man, the female birds appear to be the most æsthetic of all animals; therefore, those male birds that are the most pleasing songsters, or the [154] most attractive in their dances and fantastic performances, are the ones selected by the females for mating. ”

“ With mammals we do not at present possess any evidence that the males take pains to display their charms before the female; and the elaborate manner in which this is performed by male birds and other animals is the strongest argument in favour of the belief that the females admire, or are excited by, the ornaments and colours displayed before them. ”

“ These animals possessing finer organs and higher sensations than others, show an eminent superiority. They have all the tenderness of birds or quadrupeds for their young, nurse them with constant care, and protect them from every injury. The female never produces more than one young, or two at the most; and this she suckles entirely in the manner of quadrupeds, her breasts being placed, as in the human kind, above the navel. ”

“ I begin with the mere difference in strength, through which the male of many animals is so sharply distinguished from the female, as, for instance, the lion, walrus, "sea-elephant," and others. Among these the males fight violently for the possession of the female, who falls to the victor in the combat. ”

“ Do you know of any lowly organised animals, in which the sexes are separated, and in which the male differs from the female in arms of offence, like the horns and tusks of male mammals, or in gaudy plumage and ornaments, as with birds and butterflies? I do not refer to secondary sexual characters, by which the male is able to discover the female, like the plumed antennae of moths, or by which the male is enabled to seize the female, like the curious pincers described by you in some of the lower Crustaceans. ”

“ In various classes of animals a few exceptional cases occur, in which the female instead of the male has acquired well pronounced secondary sexual characters, such as brighter colours, greater size, strength, or pugnacity. ”

“ There appears to be no direct evidence, however, that female birds are more charmed by one male than another, and prefer him on account of his superior song, as the theory of Sexual Selection postulates. ”