THE



129



Avicultural Magazine,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



Third Series . — Vol. IV.—No 5. — All rights reserved. MARCH, 1913.



THE SEXES OF LIOTHRIX LUTEA,

WITH REMARKS ON MODIFICATIONS OF

THE SPECIES.


By Arthur G. Butler, Ph.D., M.B.O.U., &c.


The external sexual characters of birds have for many years

been a fascinating study to me, and I suppose no other living avicul-

turist has paid anything like the same amount of attention to them

as I have. It has always seemed evident to me that, inasmuch as

most birds are able to recognise their mates at sight (certain Doves,

in which there is a great similarity of plumage in both sexes, being

exceptions), our sight only needed education to enable us to discover

those differences between male and female which were patent to the

birds themselves.


Although I did my best in my little book—“ How to sex

Cage-Birds ” to indicate features by which the sexes of the present

species might be identified, I failed to mention all the differences of

plumage which actually exist ; and, to impress characters of this

kind upon the memory, I am sure that nothing is better than an

accurate coloured plate; so that I congratulate myself and the

Society upon the fact that one has been granted to illustrate the

present article.


Liothrix lutea is variously known as the “ Red-billed Hill-

tit,” the “ Yellow-throated or yellow-bellied Liothrix,” the “ Pekin

Nightingale or Robin ” and the “ Japanese Robin.” Of course, as

the last-mentioned name is hopelessly incorrect, the bird being

neither a native of Japan nor related to the European Robin, it is



