BIRDS— COLOR AND NIDIFICATION. 447 



there are, as might have been expected,, some exceptions to his 

 two rules, but it is a question whether the exceptions are not so 

 numerous as seriously to invalidate them. 



There is in the first place much truth in the Duke of Argyll's 

 remark'" that a large domed nest is more conspicuous to an enemy, 

 especially to all tree-haunting carnivorous animals, than a smaller 

 open nest. Nor must we forget that with many birds which build 

 open nests, the male sits on the eggs and aids the female in 

 feeding the young: this is the case, for instance, with Pyranga 

 sestiva," one of the most splendid birds in the United States, the 

 male being vermilion, and the female light brownish-green. Now 

 if brilliant colors had been extremely dangerous to birds whilst 

 sitting on their open nests, the males in these cases would have 

 suffered greatly. It might, however, be of such paramount im- 

 portance to the male to be brilliantly colored, in order to beat 

 his rivals, that this may have more than compensated some addi- 

 tional danger. 



Mr. Wallace admits that with the King-crows (Dicrurus), Ori- 

 oles, and Pittidae, the females are conspicuously colored, yet 

 build open nests; but he urges that the birds of the first group 

 are highly pugnacious and could defend themselves; that those 

 of the second group take extreme care in concealing their open 

 nests, but this does not invariably hold good;'- and that with the 

 birds of the third group the females are brightly colored chiefly 

 on the under surface. Besides these cases, pigeons which are 

 sometimes brightly, and almost alv/ays conspicuously colored, 

 and which are notoriously liable to the attacks of birds of prey, 

 offer a serious exception to the rule, for they almost always build 

 open and exposed nests. In another large family, that of the 

 humming-birds, all the species build open nests, yet with some of 

 the most gorgeous species the sexes are alike; and in the major- 

 ity, the females, though less brilliant than the males, are brightly 

 colored. Nor can it be maintained that all female humming- 

 birds, which are brightly colored, escape detection by their tints 

 being green, for some display on their upper surfaces red, blue, 

 and other colors.'^ 



10 "Journal of Travel,' edited by A. Murray, vol. 1. 1868, p. 281. 



''Audubon, 'Ornithological Biography,' vol. i. p. 233. 



'= Jerdon, 'Birds of India,' vol. ii. p. 108. Gould's 'Handbook of the 

 Birds of Australia,' vol. i. p. 463. 



" For instance, the female Eupetomena macroura has the head and 

 tail dark blue with reddish loins; the female Lampornis porphyrurus 

 is blackish-green on the upper surface, with the lores and sides of the 

 throat crimson; the female Bulampis jugularis has the top of the 

 head and back green, but the loins and the tail are crimson. Many 

 other instances of highly conspicuous females could be given. See 

 Mr. Gould's magnificent work on this family. 



