ed. Grant that these cases are
exceptional; but if we once admit that among many species--and these
highly developed in sex--the female shows no evidence of retarded
development, we shall be forced also to break once for all with many
beliefs and trite theories which have inspired on this subject of the
sexual differences between the female and the male so much dogmatic
statement and so many unproved assumptions.

I am not forgetting the gorgeous plumage of some male birds, and the
contrast they afford with the plain females. What I wish to show is
that such adornments cannot be regarded as a necessary adjunct to the
male--an expression, in fact, of the male constitution. Nor are they,
as we shall find later, necessary, or even beneficial in the highest
degree, to the reproductive process.[84] I have an even more
interesting case to bring forward, which to me seems to point very
conclusively to what I am trying to prove. The phalaropes, both the
grey and red-necked species, have a peculiarity unique among British
birds, although shared by several other groups in different parts of
the world.[85] Among these birds the role of the sexes is reversed.
The duties of incubation and rearing the young are conducted entirely
by the male bird, and in correlation with this habit the female does
all the courting, is stronger and more pugnacious than the male, and
is also brighter in plumage. In colour they are a pale olive very
thickly spotted and streaked with black. The male is the psychical
mother, the female taking no notice of the nest after laying the eggs.
Frequently at the beginning of the breeding season she is accompanied
by more than one male, so that it is evident that polyandry is
practised.[86]

Now, if such an example of the reversal of the sexes has any meaning
at all, it seems to me that we find the conclusion forced upon us that
the secondary sexual characters are not necessarily different in the
male and the female, but depend on the form of the union or marriage
and the conditions of the family. Professor Lester Ward, in connection
with his Gynaeocratic theory, fully discusses this question. His
conclusion is that this superiority of the males in strength and size
among mammals and in beauty of plumage (which is also a symbol of
force) among birds, instead of indicating an arrested development in
the females indicates an over-development in the males. "Male
efflorescence" is the apt term by which Professor War