reat length, which are renewed every year in the
month of May.[79] It seems certain that this aesthetic display is
conscious and pre-meditated; for while most pheasants parade before
their females, two of the species--the _Crossoptilon auritum_ and the
_Phasianus Wallichii_--which are of dull colour, refrain from doing
so, being apparently conscious of their modest livery.[80]

Certain birds are not content alone with the display of natural
ornament, but make use of further aesthetic appeal in the construction
of their homes in a truly beautiful manner. Some species of
humming-birds are said to decorate the exterior of their nests in
great taste with lichens, feathers, etc. The bower-birds of Australia
construct bowers on the ground, ornamented with shell, feathers, bones
and leaves. Both sexes take part in the building of these abodes of
love, which are used for the courting parades. But an even more
delightful example of the rare sexual delicacy in courtship is
recorded by M.O. Beccari of a bird of Paradise of New Guinea, the
_Amblyornis inornata_.[81]

"This wonderful and beautiful bird constructs a little conical
hut to protect his amours, and in front of this he arranges a
lawn, carpeted with moss, the greenness of which he relieves by
scattering on it various bright coloured objects, such as
berries, grains, flowers, pebbles and shells. More than this,
when the flowers are faded, he takes great care to replace them,
so that the eye may be always agreeably flattered. These curious
constructions are solid, lasting for several years, and probably
serving for several birds."

It is, I think, by such cases as these that we may come to realise the
extraordinary power of sex-hunger. It seems to me that many of us are
still walking in sleep; fear holds our eyes from the truth. But as we
look back to the complex and often beautiful manifestations of love's
actions among our animal ancestors, we begin to perceive that
unanalysable something called "beauty," which is the glory that has
arisen out of that first simple impelling hunger, which drove the male
cell and the female cell to unite. This is how I see things--Life
knows no development except through Love.

II.--_Further Examples of Courtship, Marriage, and the Family among
Birds_

It is especially upon the efflorescence of male beauty among birds
that Darwin founded his celebrated theory of sexual selection. The
motley of di