Certain birds are not content alone with the display of natural ornament, but make use of further æsthetic 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 display seems endless, beautiful plumes, elongated feathery tresses, neck-ruffs, breast-shields, brightly-coloured cowls and wattles occur with marvellous richness of variety.
Now, can we accept the Darwinian theory, and believe that all these appendages of beauty, as well as the sexual weapons, powers of song and movement, have been developed through the preference of the females? the stronger and more ornamental males becoming in this way the parents of each successive generation. Wallace, as is well known, opposed Darwin's view, preferring to regard sexual selection as a manifestation of natural selection. He has been followed by other naturalists, who have denied this creative power of love, being unable to credit conscious choice by the females of the most gifted males. The controversy on the question has been long and at times violent. Yet, it would seem, as so often happens in all disagreements, that the difference in opinion is more apparent than founded on the facts. There is really no difficulty if once we understand the true significance of courtship. What this is I have tried to make clear. During the excitement of pairing the male birds are in a condition of the most perfect development, and possess an enormous store of superabundant vitality; this, as may readily be understood, may well express itself in brilliant colours and superfluities of ornamental plumage, as also in song, in dancing, in love tournaments and in battles. The fact that we have to remember is that the female is most easily won by the male, who, being himself most charged with sex desire—and through this means reaching the finest development—is able to create a corresponding intoxication in her, and thus, by producing in both the most perfect condition, favours the chances of reproduction. There is no need whatever to suppose any conscious choice or special æsthetic perception on the part of the females. Great effects are everywhere produced in Nature by simple causes. The female responds to the stimulus of the right male at the right moment—that is really the whole matter.[82]
In these instances (brought forward in the previous section of this chapter) of the universal hunger of sex, which are fairly typical and are as complete as my space will allow, certain facts have become clear. In the first place we have seen something of the strong driving of the procreative function, which is the guarantee of the continuation and development of life. The importance of the result to be gained explains the diverse and elaborate phenomena of courtship. The higher we ascend in the animal kingdom the stronger does the sex-appetite become: it vibrates in the nerve-centres, giving rise to violent emotions which intensify all the physical and psychic activities. Love is the great creative force. It awakens impressions and desires in the individual, giving rise to what may be called "experiments in creative self-expression," to the energy of which we owe the varied and marvellous phenomena in animal life.
A further cause arising from the development of love is certainly of not less importance—it is the beginning of life not wholly individualistic. It is in the sexual passions we must seek the origins of all social growth. This is evident. We have seen that sexual union induces durable association between the female and the male for the object of rearing the young. Here already we find that truth, which it is the chief purpose of this book to make plain, that the individual exists for the race. This is the new and practical morality of the biological view, which regards the individual as primarily the host and servant of the seed of life. And this is really of the greatest benefit to the individual. From this service to the future arises the family and the home. The familial instinct, more or less developed, may be traced far back in the scale of life; and as it gains in strength it extends from the family into a wider social love, which in some species results in the forming of societies grouped together for mutual protection and co-operation in communal activities. A rough outline of society is thus found established already in the animal kingdom.
Just as there were many different forms of sexual associations among our animal ancestors, so we may observe the two chief forms of human societies, the matriarchate and the patriarchate—or the maternal and paternal family. It is the former that is the most frequent. This is what we should expect. The female, the mother, as the natural centre of the family, the male, her servant, in the procreative act; but apart from this, we find him most frequently following personal interests; the female's love for the young is stronger and more developed than his. I lay stress upon this fact, for it shows how strongly planted in woman is the maternal instinct. I doubt if any woman can ever find true expression for her nature apart from motherhood. It is in these past histories of life's development that we may find the key for its purpose and meaning to us.
There is another point of special importance to us in estimating the true place of woman in society. This early position of the female proves conclusively (as we shall see more clearly later when we come to study the primitive human family) the importance of the mother and her children as the founders of society. Woman, by reason of her more intimate connection with the children and the home, became the centre of the social group, while the males, less bound by domestic ties, were able to wander, but came back to the home, driven by their sexual needs to return to the female. But without giving more time here to this question, to which I shall return later, there is a further consideration, arising from our study of the family habits among the birds and mammals, that now must claim our attention. Certain examples I have come across, in particular among birds, have forced into my mind doubt of a widely-accepted belief. I put forward my opinion with great diffidence; it is so easy to interpret facts by the bias of one's own wishes. I know that the cases I have found and studied are probably few in comparison with those I have missed; but to me they seem of such importance, by the light they throw on the whole question of the position of the sexes, that it seems necessary to bring them forward.