36 Presidential Address. 



thrush of Guiana, birds of Paradise, and some others, congregate; 

 and successive males display their gorgeous plumage, and 

 perform strange antics before the females, which, standing by as 

 spectators, at last choose the most attractive partner. "^ He 

 states elsewhere : — " In one instance, at least, the male emits a 

 musky odour, which, we may suppose, serves to charm or excite 

 the female." In the Australian musk-duck (Biziura lobata), in 

 which species the male is about twice the size of his mate, " the 

 smell which the male emits during the summer months is confined 

 to that sex, and in some individuals is retained throughout the 

 year. " "I have never, ' ' says Mr Ramsay, " even in the breeding- 

 season, shot a female which had any smell of musk."^ Charles 

 Darwin, dealing with the whole subject, thus sums up the 

 position of the female bird : — " She, with the rarest exceptions, 

 is less eager than the male ; she generally requires to be 

 courted: she is coy, and may often be seen endeavouring for 

 a long time to escape from the male."'' In choosing the most 

 gorgeous, the most agile, or the loudest voiced of the males, the 

 female " is unconsciously securing the male with the most super- 

 abundant energy;" for, as Mr F. J. Stubbs states, "When the 

 young are hatched this stored-up vitality will be turned into 

 another more useful channel. "^ So then, as regards this period 

 in the history of the domestic life of birds, we are led to the 

 conclusion that the male is more ornate and superior to the 

 female. That it is he who, in the mating season, sings his loudest, 

 and displays himself at his best for the gratification of the female ; 

 and that she on her part, having been overcome by his attention, 

 takes up the domestic duties of incubation ; all which we regard 

 as natural, and very right and proper. At this juncture I might 

 well anticipate a cry of " Votes for Women, ' ' or expect a bomb to 

 be thrown by some suffragette through the roof of our hall : but 

 our Society being strictly non-political I feel safe in proceeding. 

 After incubation, the arduous task of feeding their progeny is 

 often shared by both male and female parent birds, and the 

 energy called for by this occupation may in some degree account 

 for the cessation or relaxation- of the song of the male. As spring 

 turns into summer, these progeny become more enabled to fend 

 for themselves, and at about the same time their parents undergo 

 a moult which in some cases robs the male of all his vernal 

 finery and leaves him almost indistinguishable from his mate. 



