542 THE DESCENT OF MAN, 



point* as a crucial test that obscure colors have been ac- 

 quired for the sake of protection during the period of nest- 

 ing. A different view seems to me more probable. As 

 the cases are curious and not numerous I will briefly give 

 all that 1 have been able to find. 



In one section of the genus Turnix, quail-like birds, the 

 female is invariably larger than the male (being nearly 

 twice as large in one of the Australian species), and this is 

 an unusual circumstance with the Gallinaceae. In most of 

 the species the female is more distinctly colored and 

 brighter than the male,f but in some few species the sexes 

 are alike. In Turnix taigoor of India the male ^' wants 

 the black on the throat and neck, and the whole tone of 

 the plumage is lighter and less pronounced than that of 

 the female." The female appears to be noisier, and is cer- 

 tainly much more pugnacious than the male; so that the 

 females and not the males are often kept by the natives for 

 fighting, like gamecocks. As male birds are exposed by 

 the English bird-catchers for a decoy near a trap, in order 

 to catch other males by exciting their rivalry, so the females 

 of this Turnix are employed in India. When thus ex- 

 posed the females soon begin their ^Houd, purring call, 

 which can be heard a long way off, and any females within 

 ear-shot run rapidly to the spot and commence fighting 

 with the caged bird." In this way from twelve to twenty 

 birds, all breeding-females, may be caught in tlie course of 

 a single day. Tlie natives assert that the females after 

 laying their eggs associate in flocks, and leave the males to 

 sit on them. There is no reason to doubt the truth 

 of this assertion, which is supported by some observa- 

 tions made in China by Mr. Swinhoe.j; Mr. Blyth 

 believes that the young of both sexes resemble the adult 

 male. 



The females of the three species of painted snipes 

 (Rhynchaea, fig. 62) "^are not only larger but much more 



* " Westminster Review," July, 1867, and A. Murray, "Journal 

 of Travel," 1868, p. 83. 



f-For the Australian species, see Gould's " Hand-book," etc., vol. 

 ii, pp. 178, 180, 186, 188. In the British Museum specimens of the 

 Australian Plain- wanderer {Pedionomus torqitatus) may be seen, 

 showing similar sexual differences. 



t Jerdon, "Birds of India," vol. iii, p. 596. Mr. Swinhoe, in 

 " Ibis," 1865, p. 543; 1866, pp. 131, 405, 



