The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Vol. II (1st Edition)
CHAPTER XIV.
BIRDS--_continued_.
Choice exerted by the female--Length of courtship--Unpaired birds--Mental qualities and taste for the beautiful--Preference or antipathy shewn by the female for particular males-- Variability of birds--Variations sometimes abrupt--Laws of variation--Formation of ocelli--Gradations of character--Case of Peacock, Argus pheasant, and Urosticte 99-153