THE INDIAN ROBIN 63 



But enough of these odious comparisons. Let 

 me now describe the two Indian species of Thamnobia 

 — the black-backed robin (T. fulicata) which has 

 possessed itself of South India and the brown-backed 

 species (T. camhayensis) which is found all over 

 Northern India. The cock of the former species is a 

 glossy, jet-black bird, with a narrow white bar in his 

 wing, and the brick-red patch under his tail which 

 I have already had occasion to mention. The hen 

 is sandy brown all over save for the aforesaid patch. 

 The hen of the northern species differs in no appre- 

 ciable way from her sister in the South ; while the 

 cock of the North varies only from his southern brother 

 in having the back brown instead of black. It is 

 my belief that the black-backed species arose as a 

 mutation from the brown-backed form. The hen and 

 the two cocks probably represent three stages in the 

 evolutionary process. 



I am sorry to be under the necessity of making 

 a statement which may offend the ladies, but the 

 fact is that among birds the cocks tend to be ahead 

 of the hens as regards evolutionary development, 

 they are, in a sense, superior beings. The tendency 

 is for all birds to assume brilliant plumage, and it is 

 fitting that this should be so, for are not birds the 

 most exquisite ornaments of the earth ? In some 

 species both sexes have travelled equally far along 

 the evolutionary path, and in such instances the sexes 

 are alike. In other cases one of the sexes is one or 

 more stages ahead of the other, and it is almost in- 

 variably the cock who leads and who is, therefore, 



