The Descent of Man

during the summer months is confined to that
sex, and in some individuals 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. (2. Gould, 'Handbook
of the Birds of Australia,' 1865, vol. ii. p. 383.)
On the whole, birds appear to be the most aesthetic
of all animals, excepting of course man,
and they have nearly the same taste for the
beautiful as we have. This is shewn by our enjoyment
of the singing of birds, and by our
women, both civilised and savage, decking
their heads with borrowed plumes, and using
gems which are hardly more brilliantly coloured
than the naked skin and wattles of certain
birds. In man, however, when cultivated, the
sense of beauty is manifestly a far more complex
feeling, and is associated with various intellectual
ideas.