CHAPTER III 



DECORATION IN BIRDS 



The Splendid Sun-bird. 



The difference in the colouring of the sexes Evolution of Species 

 Sun-birds Birds of Paradise Lyre-birds Motmots Puffins 

 The methods by which Birds acquire their plumage. 



THE decoration of a bird is, as a rule, confined to the 

 adult male. The females and the young birds are soberly 

 coloured in comparison with the plumage of the old male, 

 and that this is the general rule throughout the Class Aves 

 is a well-known fact. As will be seen, however, later on, 

 there are some remarkable exceptions, in which the female 

 has the pre-eminence in ornamentation. The acquisition 

 of brighter colours by the male, usually so pronounced in 

 birds, probably depends upon sexual selection in the past, 

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