Alfred Russel Wallace 



females pf the Gallinacese you mention have been either 

 modified^ or prevented from acqmring much of the brighter 

 plumage of the males, by the need of protection. I know 

 that Gallus hanlciva frequents drier and more open situa- 

 tions than Favo muticus, which in Java is found among 

 grassy and leafy vegetation corresponding with the colours 

 of the two females. So the Argus pheasants, male and 

 female, are, I feel sure, protected by their tints corre- 

 sponding to dead leaves of the dry lofty forests in which 

 they dwell ; and the female of the gorgeous fire-back 

 pheasant, Lophura viellottii, is of a very similar rich 

 brown colour. 



These and many other colours of female birds seem to 

 me exactly analogous to the colours of hoth sexes in such 

 groups as the snipes, woodcocks, plovers, ptarmigan, desert 

 birds, Arctic animals, greenbirds. 



[The second page of this letter has been torn off. This 

 letter and that of September 27 appear both to answer the 

 same letter from Darwin. The last page of this or of 

 another letter was placed with it in the portfolio of 

 letters; it is now given.] 



I am sorry to find that our difference of opinion on this 

 point is a source of anxiety to you. 



Pray do not let it be so. The truth will come out at 

 last, and our difference may be the means of setting others 

 to work who may set us both right. 



After all, this question is only an episode (though an im- 

 portant one) in the great question of the origin of species, 

 and whether you or I are right will not at all affect the main 

 doctrine — that is one comfort. 



I hope you will publish your treatise on Sexual Selec- 

 tion as a separate book as soon as possible, and then 

 while you are going on with your other work, there will no 



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