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The Descent of Man

The Descent of Man

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On the preference shown by either sex in the<br />

pairing <strong>of</strong> quadrupeds.<br />

With mammals the male appears to win the<br />

female much more through the law <strong>of</strong> battle<br />

than through the display <strong>of</strong> his charms. <strong>The</strong><br />

most timid animals, not provided with any<br />

special weapons for fighting, engage in desperate<br />

conflicts during the season <strong>of</strong> love. Two<br />

male hares have been seen to fight together<br />

until one was killed; male moles <strong>of</strong>ten fight,<br />

and sometimes with fatal results; male squirrels<br />

engage in frequent contests, "and <strong>of</strong>ten wound<br />

each other severely"; as do male beavers, so<br />

that "hardly a skin is without scars." (1. See Waterton's<br />

account <strong>of</strong> two hares fighting, 'Zoologist,'<br />

vol. i. 1843, p. 211. On moles, Bell, 'Hist. <strong>of</strong><br />

British Quadrupeds,' 1st ed., p. 100. On squirrels,<br />

Audubon and Bachman, Viviparous<br />

Quadrupeds <strong>of</strong> N. America, 1846, p. 269. On<br />

beavers, Mr. A.H. Green, in 'Journal <strong>of</strong> Linnean<br />

Society, Zoology,' vol. x. 1869, p. 362.) I obser-

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