270 THE STORY OF THE BIRDS 



Before the reader of this volume has reached 

 the present chapter he will be aware that in 

 a great many species there is a most marked 

 difference in the colour of the sexes, the females 

 in such instances being very much less brilliantly 

 coloured than the males, in not a few cases 

 this difference being so marked that one sex 

 is totally different from the other in general 

 appearance. Now this dull colour in so many 

 female birds is intimately connected with the 

 special means of nidification, and we find in 

 a vast number of species such inconspicuous 

 tints are correlated with an open nest. This 

 is ^admirably illustrated by such a species as a 

 Pheasant or a Black Grouse. In both these 

 species the males are very brilliantly coloured, 

 their plumage being exceptionally beautiful and 

 conspicuous, whilst the females are utterly 

 different and dressed in tints of mottled browns 

 and yellows. These birds nest on the ground, 

 but they are careful to lay their eggs amongst 

 vegetation where their own plumage harmonises 

 so closely with surrounding tints that they are 

 very difficult to see as they brood over their 

 treasures. We find the same rule prevailing 

 amongst hosts of other species which we have 

 not space to describe in detail here* 



