PROPORTION OF THE SEXES. 243 



the broods of the capercailzie and black-cock contain more males 

 than females; and that with the Dal-ripa (a kind of ptarmigan) 

 more males tlaan females attend the leks or places of courtship ; 

 but this latter circumstance is accounted for by some observers 

 by a greater number of hen birds being killed by vermin. From 

 various facts given by White of Selborne," it seems clear that the 

 males of the partridge must be in considerable excess in the south 

 of England; and I have been assured that this is the case in 

 Scotland. Mr. Weir on inquiring from the dealers, who receive 

 at certain seasons large numbers of ruffs (Machetes pugnax), was 

 told that the males are much the more numerous. This same 

 naturalist has also inquired for me from the birdcatchers, who 

 annually catch an astonishing number of various small species 

 alive for the London market, and he was unhesitatingly answered 

 by an old and trustworthy man, that with the chaffinch the males 

 are in large excess; he thought as high as 2 males to 1 female, 

 or at least as high as 5 to 3."^ The males of the blackbird, he 

 likewise maintained, were by far the more numerous, whether 

 caught by traps or by netting at night. These statements may 

 apparently be trusted, because this same man said that the sexes 

 are about equal with the lark, the twite (Linaria montana), and 

 goldfinch. On the other hand, he is certain that with the com- 

 mon linnet, the females x)reponderate greatly, but unequally during 

 different years; during some years he has found the females to 

 the males as four to one. It should, however, be borne in mind, 

 that the chief season for catching birds does not begin till Sep- 

 tember, so that with some species partial migrations may have 

 begun, and the flocks at this period often consist of hens alone. 

 Mr. Salvin paid particular attention to the sexes of the humming- 

 birds in Central America, and he is convinced that with ihost 

 of the species the males are in excess; thus one year he procured 

 204 specimens belonging to ten species, and these consisted of 166 

 males and of only 38 females. With two other species the females 

 were In excess: but the proportions apparently vary either dur- 

 ing different seasons or in different localities; for on one occasion 

 the males of Campylopterus hemileucurus were to the females as 

 5 to 2, and on another occasion" in exactly the reversed ratio. As 



M 'Nat. Hist, of Selbome,' letter xxix. edit, of 1S25, vol. i. p. 139. 



"= Mr. Jenner Weir received similar information, on making: in- 

 quiries during the following- year. To show the number of living 

 chafflnches caught, I may mention that in 1869 there was a match be- 

 tween two experts, and one man caught in <x day 62, and another 40, 

 male chaffinches. The g:reatest number ever caught by one man in 

 a single day was 70. 



™ 'Ibis,' vol. il. p. 260, as quoted in Gould's 'Trochilidae,' 1861, p. 52. 

 For the foregoing proportions, I am indebted to Mr. Salvin for a 

 table of his results. 



