AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 21 



Bustard Quail family, the Australian Plain Wanderer has the 

 hind toe. The females of this order of birds do the fighting. 



In Quail, the rule often observed amongst birds that the male 

 is larger and more beautiful than the female may be reversed, 

 for here the female is sometimes larger and the more conspicu- 

 ously colored. In association with this reversal of color and 

 size, the domestic habits are changed, for, in some species at 

 least, the female sits on the eggs but a very short time; the male 

 then finishes the task of incubating, and brings up and educates 

 the young family. Meantime, the female has found another 

 mate and another clutch of eggs is left to the care of the male. 



In birds having both sexes the same color each bird usually 

 does its share of domestic work, sitting on the eggs, feeding the 

 young, etc. Where the male is more brightly colored, he, as a 

 rule, does not sit on the eggs, for he would be visible to a bird 

 of prey sailing overhead, and so would probably be killed and 

 the eggs taken. The great naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, 

 thus regards the quiet coloration of most female birds as a 

 protection during the nesting season. The gaudy coloration of 

 many male birds has been explained by Darwin as being due to 

 sexual selection, the female choosing as a mate the most gaily 

 colored or most attractive bird. 



Though the sitting bird is usually protectively colored, it was 

 our good fortune, on a Summer School excursion, attended by 

 His Excellency the Governor (Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael), a 

 keen Nature-lover, and the Director of Education (Mr. F. Tate), 

 to find the gorgeously-colored male Golden-breasted Whistler 

 (Thickhead) sitting on the eggs in full daylight. It was noted, 

 however, that the open nest was unusually well protected by an 

 overhead bushy branch. 



In Order IV. come those well-known birds — the "Cooers," 

 Pigeons and Doves. The Australian region is the great strong- 

 hold of these often beautiful birds. It is only in this region 

 that members of each of the five families of living Pigeons are 

 found. Two of the five families are peculiar to the region, and 

 nearly half the kinds of Pigeons known are found here. The 

 finest and largest of all Pigeons are the large Crowned Pigeons 

 of New Guinea. Unfortunately, the heads of these Pigeons are 

 much in demand for millinery. Would that fashionable 

 women knew the cruelty and devastation wrought by such 

 fashions! 



Amongst the most beautiful of Pigeons are, as Dr. Newton re- 

 marked, the common Bronzewing Pigeons of Australia and 

 Tasmania. The lovely Fruit-Pigeons of East Australian scrubs 

 are, perhaps, the most beautiful of all, so it will readily be seen 

 how fortunate we are with regard to these birds. 



The fine large Wonga-Wonga Pigeon is becoming rare. Its 

 flesh is white, so Gould named it Leucosarcia (white flesh). It 

 has been proposed to introduce this bird into Europe to breed 

 for table purposes. 



The birds of Order V. are amongst the successes in the struggle 

 for existence, for they are found the world over. 



