3 1 8 Poachers and Poaching. 



the sexes in this species is almost identical ; 

 but when the breeding season comes round, 

 the female dons a well-defined and compara- 

 tively conspicuous plumage, while it is found 

 that the dull-coloured male alone sits upon 

 the eggs. 



Mr. Wallace has pointed that the bee-eaters, 

 mot-mots, and touchans among the most 

 brilliant of tropical or semi-tropical birds all 

 build in holes in trees. In each of these cases 

 there is hardly any difference in the plumage of 

 the sexes, and where this is so the above rule is 

 almost invariable. Again, our native kingfisher 

 affords an illustration. Woodpeckers, many of 

 which are brightly coloured above, build in the 

 boles of trees, and our own titmice, with their ex- 

 quisite tints, construct domed nests. Visitors to 

 the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park will have 

 noticed that the orange-plumaged orioles have 

 pensile nests, which is a characteristic of the 

 order to which they belong, most of the members 

 of which are conspicuous. Bird enemies come 

 from above rather than below, and it will be 

 noticed that the modifications referred to all 

 have reference to the upper plumage. Pro- 

 tective colouring, having for its object the pre- 

 servation of the species which adopt it, will be 

 found to enter more or less into the economy 

 of every animal and bird and insect in a state 

 of nature ; and therefore it will be seen that 



