s on the strange peculiarity of the
usual colours of the two sexes being reversed, and also on the still
more curious fact that the "male alone sits on the eggs," which are
deposited on the bare ground. In another British bird, the dotterell,
the female is also larger and more brightly-coloured than the male; and
it seems to be proved that the males assist in incubation even if they
do not perform it entirely, for Mr. Gould tells us, "that they have been
shot with the breast bare of feathers, caused by sitting on the eggs."
The small quail-like birds forming the genus Turnix have also generally
large and bright-coloured females, and we are told by Mr. Jerdon in his
"Birds of India" that "the natives report that during the breeding
season the females desert their eggs and associate in flocks while the
males are employed in hatching the eggs." It is also an ascertained
fact, that the females are more bold and pugnacious than the males. A
further confirmation of this view is to be found in the fact (not
hitherto noticed) that in a large majority of the cases in which bright
colours exist in both sexes incubation takes place in a dark hole or in
a dome-shaped nest. Female kingfishers are often equally brilliant with
the male, and they build in holes in banks. Bee-eaters, trogons,
motmots, and toucans, all build in holes, and in none is there any
difference in the sexes, although they are, without exception, showy
birds. Parrots build in holes in trees, and in the majority of cases
they present no marked sexual difference tending to concealment of the
female. Woodpeckers are in the same category, since though the sexes
often differ in colour, the female is not generally less conspicuous
than the male. Wagtails and titmice build concealed nests, and the
females are nearly as gay as their mates. The female of the pretty
Australian bird Pardalotus punctatus, is very conspicuously spotted on
the upper surface, and it builds in a hole in the ground. The
gay-coloured hang-nests (Icterinae) and the equally brilliant tanagers
may be well contrasted; for the former, concealed in their covered
nests, present little or no sexual difference of colour--while the
open-nested tanagers have the females dull-coloured and sometimes with
almost protective tints. No doubt there are many individual exceptions
to the rule here indicated, because many and various causes have
combined to determine both the colouration and the habits of birds.
These