ON SOMATIC SEX-CHARACTERS 87 



that immature birds are so small and delicate 

 that it is almost impossible to operate upon them 

 successfully. 



ASSUMPTION OF MALE CHARACTERS BY THE 

 FEMALE 



That male somatic sexual characters are latent 

 in the female is shown by the frequent appearance 

 of such characters in old age, or in individual cases. 

 The development of hair on the face of women in 

 old age, or after the child-bearing period, is a well- 

 known fact. Rorig, 1 who carefully studied the 

 antlers of stags, states that old sterile females, and 

 those with diseased ovaries, develop antlers to some 

 degree. Cases of crowing hens, and female birds 

 assuming male plumage have long been known, but 

 the exact relation of the somatic changes to the 

 condition of the ovaries in these cases is worthy of 

 consideration in view of the results obtained by 

 Goodale after removal of the ovaries from ducks. 

 Shattock and Seligmann 2 record the case of a gold 

 pheasant hen which assumed the full male plumage 

 after the first moult : it had never laid eggs or 

 shown any sexual instincts. The only male char- 

 acter which was wanting was that of the spurs. The 

 ovary was represented by a smooth, slightly elevated 

 deep black eminence 1 cm. in length and 1*5 mm. in 

 breadth at its upper end. These authors also 

 mention three ducks in male plumage in which the 

 ovary was similarly atrophied but not pigmented. 



1 * Ueber Geweihbildung und Geweihentwicklung.' Arch. Ent.-Mech., 

 x. and xi. 



2 * True Hermaphroditism in Domestic Fowl, etc.' Trans. Path. Soc., 

 Lond., 57. 1, 1906. 



