Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, Selection in Relation to Sex (London, 1896, 2nd edt.), ch. XIII., Secondary Sexual Characters of Birds, p. 359:
On the whole, birds appear to be the most æsthetic 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.
Highly anthropomorphic language that is not quite justified, but it is still understood why one would be too much tempted to think thus of birds.
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