BIRDS' NESTS AND EGGS 353 



that the colour of many female birds is connected in no small 

 degree with their mode of nidification, and that the sitting- 

 bird derives her only safety from the harmony v/hich exists 

 between her own sober plumage and the colour of surrounding 

 objects. The males of many of our common birds possess ex- 

 treme brilliancy of plumage, but their females are remarkably 

 dull and sombre in appearance. The gorgeous Pheasant is 

 a good example. His brilliant plumes are familiar to all, yet 

 his mate is brown and singularly plain in appearance. Her 

 sober plumage, however, is of the greatest importance. She 

 builds her slight nest on the ground in places where surround- 

 in^r vec^etation harmonises with the colour of her own sober 

 dress, and this effectually conceals her and her eggs from 

 enemies. The Black Grouse is another interesting instance, 

 the difference in the colour of the sexes being even still 

 more marked. The Wild Duck and the Teal are others. The 

 Drakes are two of the most conspicuous and most beautiful of 

 our native birds — their mates are singularly plain in appear- 

 ance. The same great end is served in this striking difference 

 of the plumage of the sexes. In both cases the nest is open 

 and exposed, and the female derives her safety during the 

 trying period of incubation from the sober colouring of her 

 plumage. Among more homely species the Blackbird and 

 the King Ouzel, the Chaffinch and the Bullfinch, may be 

 cited as instances. As the reader is aware, the males of all 

 these birds are handsome and conspicuous, the females are dull 

 and sombre, and all build open nests where the sitting-bird 

 is exposed to view. We may thus lay it down as an almost 

 universal rule that birds of brilliant plumage which nest in 

 an open site have the females remarkably different in appear- 

 ance, and dressed in tints harmonising in colour with the 

 surroundings of the nest. 



We must now notice another very interesting class of 

 birds, namely, those in which the above rule is absolutely 



