Chap. XVI.] THE YOUNG LIKE TIIE ADULT FEMALES. 187 



We may therefore conclude that the females of dis- 

 tinct though allied species have often had their plumage ren- 

 dered more or less different by the transference, in various 

 degrees, of characters acquired, both during former and 

 recent times, by the males through sexual selection. But 

 it deserves especial attention that brilliant colors have 

 been transferred much more rarely than other tints. For 

 instance, the male of the red-throated bluebreast ( Gya- 

 necula suecica) has a rich blue breast, including a sub-tri- 

 angular red mark ; now, marks of approximately the same 

 shape have been transferred to the female, but the central 

 space is fulvous instead of red, and is surrounded by mot- 

 tled instead of blue feathers. The GallinaceaB offer many 

 analogous cases ; for none of the species, such as partridges, 

 quails, guinea-fowls, etc., in which the colors of the plu- 

 mage have been largely transferred from the male to the fe- 

 male, are brilliantly colored. This is well exemplified with 

 the pheasants, in which the male is generally so much more 

 brilliant than the female ; but with the Eared and Cheer 

 pheasants ( Cross optilon auritum and Phasianus Wal- 

 lichii) the two sexes closely resemble each other, and their 

 colors are dull. We may go so far as to believe that, if 

 any part of the plumage in the males of these two pheas- 

 ants had been brilliantly colored, this would not have been 

 transferred to the females. These facts strongly support- 

 Mr. Wallace's view, that, with birds which are exposed to 

 much danger during nidification, the transference of 

 bright colors from the male to the female has been checked 

 through natural selection. We must not, however, forget 

 that another explanation, before given, is possible ; namely, 

 that the males which varied and became bright, while 

 they were young and inexperienced, would have been ex- 

 posed to much danger, and would generally have been 

 destroyed; the older and more cautious males, on the 

 other hand, if they varied in a like manner, would not only 



