BIRDS 



543 



richly colored than the males. "* With all other birds in 

 which the trachea differs in structure in the two sexes it is 

 more developed and complex in the male than in the 

 female; but in the Rhynchcea australis it is simple in the 

 male, while in the female it makes four distinct convolu- 



Fig. 62. Rhynchsea capensis (from Brehm). 



tions before entering the lungs, f The female, therefore, 

 of this species has acquired an eminently masculine char- 

 acter. Mr. Blyth ascertained, by examining many speci- 

 mens, that the trachea is not convoluted in either sex of 

 R. bengalensis, which species resembles R. australis so 

 closely that it can hardly be distinguished except by its 

 shorter toes. This fact is another striking instance of the 



* Jerdon, "Birds of India," vol. iii, p. 677. 



f Gould's " Hand-book to the Birds of Australia," vol. ii, p. 275. 



