nd to destroy the offspring, which, by absorbing the
attention of his partner, thwart his amours. Thus among the large
felines the mother is obliged to hide her young ones from the male
during the first few days after birth to prevent his devouring
them.[90]

It is important to note that among birds the fathers devoid of
affection generally belong to the less intelligent species. We may,
therefore, see that these violent polygamous amours of the male, which
result in the development of the more extravagant of the second sexual
characters, are not really favourable to the development of the
species. They belong to a lower grade of sexual evolution. And a
further proof, it seems to me, is furnished as we note that, in spite
of this tyranny, the females show considerable affection for these
tyrant males--the chimpanzee, for example, proving this by zealously
plucking the lice from her master's coat, which with monkeys is a mark
of very special attention.[91] The most oppressed females are, as a
rule, the most faithful wives. Thus the females of the guanaco lamas,
if their master chances to be wounded or killed, do not run away; they
hasten to his side, bleating and offering themselves to the shots of
the hunter in order to shield him, while, in sharp contrast, if a
female is killed, the male makes off with all his troop--he thinks
only of himself.[92] Must we say, then, that the female animal likes
servitude? It is, of course, because the aggressive male, being the
one to arouse her sexual passions, enables her to fulfil her work of
procreation. This may be. But, granting this explanation, it must be
allowed that love under such conditions evidences a deterioration,
not alone in the size and strength of the female, but in mental
capacity--love at a much lower level than those beautiful cases in
which the sexes are more alike, equal in capacity, and co-operate
together in the race work.

Yet in justice it must be added that even the most polygamous males
are not always devoid of affection. I once saw on a Derbyshire
high-road a cock show evident signs of sorrow over the death of one of
his wives, who had been killed by a passing motor. He refused to leave
the spot where her body lay, and walked round and round it, uttering
sharp cries of grief. Nor are sexual lapses confined to the males; a
female will take advantage of a moment when the attention of the old
cocks is entirely absorbed by the anxiety of a fight, to run off