76 THE GENETIC AND THE OPERATIVE EVIDENCE 



"Nor is the human race exempt from the operation of the law which prevails 

 in the Mammalia. In women, at an advanced age, hair appears on the chin 

 and upper lip, and the voice alters, becoming deep in its tone. The beard in 

 old men becomes thin and soft, and our own inimitable Shakespeare has told us, 



* * * his big manly voice 

 Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 

 And whistles in his sound. 



Gurney (1888) has recorded several cases in which female birds 

 have assumed male plumage. For instance, he describes a female 

 merganser, Mergus serrator, assuming male plumage that showed no 

 signs of disease in the ovary. Mr. Cecil Smith had a female widgeon 

 (Mareca penelope) on his ponds near Trenton, which assumed the male 

 plumage some years ago, and which, so far as he knew, had not had 

 young nor laid eggs. 



"On May 16th, 1887, a chaffinch (Fringilla Calebs) in full male plumage was 

 shot at Chapel Town, near Leeds, in Yorkshire, by the son of Mr. W. L. Jack- 

 son, M. P.; it was skinned by G. R. Grassham, assistant to Mr. W. E. Clarke 

 at the Museum, who, much to his surprise, found that it was a female, and 

 contained an egg, ready for laying, of a pale blue, without markings, and an- 

 other egg in a less forward state. This chaffinch is in every way in perfect 

 male plumage, and I am indebted to Mr. Clarke for his kindness in sending 

 these particulars with the specimen, which he received from Grassham a few 

 hours after the latter had dissected the bird. 



"In the 'Norwich Nat. Trans.,' an enumeration was given of female Red- 

 starts (Ruticilla phoenicurus) assuming male plumage (I. c.) to which the fol- 

 lowing may be added: a hen R. phoenicurus assuming male plumage, and very 

 like Mr. Millais' described in the 'Norwich Nat. Trans.' iv., p. 182, was caught 

 by Mr. W. E. Clarke sitting upon her eggs, at Wike, near Leeds, in June, 1886; 

 at the same time Mr. Clarke saw the cock close by, which appeared to be in the 

 ordinary male plumage. The late Mr. Henry Doubleday's collection con- 

 tained a hen Redstart (R. phoenicurus) in male plumage, which had the ovaries 

 'quite perfect and full of eggs' (cf. B. of Norf., i, p. 370, note), probably one of 

 those alluded to by Yarrell (Brit. B. 1st ed. i, p. 240) in the remarks made by 

 him on the plumage of this species. I have some recollection of this Redstart 

 at the dispersal of Mr. Doubleday's collection, but do not know who was 

 the purchaser of it. There can be no doubt that more would soon turn 

 up if looked for; and now that attention has been drawn to the subject, 

 and the practice of dissection is getting more general among bird stuffers, it is 

 certain to be the case, not only in Ruticilla, but in other genera besides. Why 

 it should happen in Ruticilla phoenicurus oftener than in other Passerine birds 

 is hard to explain, but such is evidently the case." 



"The same is recorded to have happened five or six times with the female 

 Red-backed Shrike (Lanius colluria); see 'the Field,' June 17, 1871, and April 

 25, 1885; Mag. N. H., iv, p. 344; 'B. of Suffolk,' p. 45; 'Ibis,' 1863, p. 292; but 

 the number of hen Redstarts which have donned masculine attire is greater. 



"The following is a list of the species in which one or more instances of 

 females assuming male plumage are ascertained to have occurred : 



Falco aesalon, fide Scully. (Cf. Sharpe, 'Cat. Birds Brit. Mus./ i, p. 407). 



Tinnunculus alaudarius, fide Sharpe; col. fig. P. Z. S., 1874, p. 580. 



Lanius collurio, fide Hoy. 



Lanius vittatus, fide Blyth. 



Ruticilla phoenicurus, fide Millais, Clarke and others. 



