260 THE PHALAROPES 



by Arctic explorers in America, 1 who discovered also that the females 

 of all the phalaropes still further show their emancipation from 

 the customary restrictions imposed upon their sex by taking the 

 initiative in courting. 



There is in this reversal of sexual adornments and functions 

 subject for much theoretical consideration, but there is little to 

 indicate the causes and influencing factors that have contributed to 

 its evolution. Is the duller plumage of the male the result or the 

 cause of his doing the incubating ? Is the superior brightness of that 

 of the female the result of sexual selection the usual order reversed ? 

 Or if we do not like the theory of sexual selection as productive of 

 brilliancy in the plumage of the courting sex, and prefer to regard 

 gay colouring as a sort of waste product, the result of otherwise 

 unused physical vitality : then is this leap-year-like behaviour of the 

 female in courting the male simply high spirits, the result of some 

 of this superfluous vitality over and above that which was required 

 in the evolution of her gay colouring ? Will natural selection, 

 demanding still soberer colours, cause the incubating male to 

 become in time duller ? And will sexual selection by discriminating 

 and aesthetically-minded males produce in time a still greater degree 

 of brilliancy in the plumage of the females, and therefore an increased 

 disparity between the two sexes ? 



With the exception of the ruff and reeve, the phalaropes show 

 more sexual dimorphism than any of the Limicolce, in fact it is hardly 

 observable in any others. Both sexes in all Waders have a fairly good 

 protective coloration. If, owing to any special conditions of habitat, 

 a duller plumage would be advantageous to the incubating bird, then 

 one can easily imagine that it would be the male whose colouring 

 would be so influenced by natural selection, as it is the rule with many 



accuracy of this observation, made over a hundred years ago, is as remarkable as the fact that 

 Simmonds' discovery was unknown to Yarrell and other authors of works on British Birds. 

 The rednecked -phalarope was first recorded as a British species by Pennant in 1769. 



1 " Report upon Natural History Collections made in Alaska in the Years 1877-1881," and 

 " Report of the International Polar Expedition to Point Barrow " (Washington, 1885). 



