152 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



inference as to power or dominion possessed by the admonisher 

 can rightly be drawn, unless it be the power of reminding. 

 (5) Twice, at least, a female Phalarope on the water rose and 

 flew at a male there, who, rising in consequence, and flying to a 

 trivial distance, after the usual manner, returned her demarche 

 by then flying at her — amorously, it appeared to me, but not 

 nearly so wholeheartedly so as when taking the initiative. The 

 action of the female seemed, in these instances, to be of a 

 provocative kind, and so intended. 



In the courting or, rather, amorous seeking of two females 

 in succession, by the male Phalarope, as instanced by me, we 

 seem to have an indication of polygamy in this species, and 

 another may possibly be furnished by my finding a second 

 nest very close to the one I have mentioned — within a step or 

 two of it. It is the cock bird, generally, who drives trespassers 

 from what he considers his home territory. His hostility, in such 

 cases, would be directed, in its full strength, against intruding 

 males, but there would be no such intrusion, were he the 

 husband of two contiguously building females, or of any number 

 of such. Certainly the females of these Eed-necked Phalaropes 

 seem to be much in excess of the males. For one plain bird, 

 one sees several brightly-coloured. An excess of the hens of 

 any species, whatever the reason, would encourage selection on 

 the part of the males, and this again would foster rivalry, as 

 between the females, with solicitous actions on their part. But 

 can we always be sure that the larger and brighter-coloured 

 bird is the female, and the smaller and plainer one the male ? 

 May there not be smaller and plainer specimens of the former, 

 and larger and less plain of the latter ? If so, it might be 

 difficult to distinguish the sexes as between two such badly 

 representative individuals. Of the various kinds of intersexual 

 activity which I have here noted there is only one in which the 

 act itself reveals the sex. 



(To be continued.) 



