470 ^HB DESCENT OF MAN. 



some few species the sexes are alike. In Turnix taigoor of India 

 the male "wants the black on the throat and neck, and the 

 "whole tone o£ the plumage is lighter and less pronounced than 

 "that of the female." The female appears to be noisier, and is 

 certainly much more pugnacious than the male; so that the 

 females and not the males are often kept by the natives for 

 fighting, like game-cocks. As male birds are exposed by the 

 English bird-catchers for a decoy near a trap, in order to catch 

 other males by exciting their rivalry, so the females of this 

 Turnix are employed in India. When thus exposed the females 

 soon begin their "loud purring call, which can be heard a long 

 "way off, and any females within ear-shot run rapidly to the 

 "spot, and commence fighting with the caged bird." In this way 

 from twelve to twenty birds, all breeding females, may be 

 caught in the course of a single day. The natives assert that 

 the females after laying their eggs associate in flocks, and leave- 

 the males to sit on them. There is no reason to doubt the 

 truth of this assertion, which is supported by some observations 

 made in China by Mr. Swinhoe.'" Mr. Blyth believes, that the 

 young of both sexes resemble the adult male. 



The females of the three species of Painted Snipes (Rhynchaea, 

 fig. 62) "are not only larger but much more richly colored than 

 "the males."" With all other birds in which the trachea differs 

 in structure in the two sexes it is more developed and complex 

 in the male than in the female; but in the Rhynchasa australis 

 it is simple in the male, whilst in the female it makes four dis- 

 tinct convolutions before entering the lungs." The female there- 

 fore of this species has acquired an eminently masculine charac- 

 ter. Mr. Blyth ascertained, by examining many specimens, that 

 the trachea is not convoluted in either sex of R. bengalensls, 

 which species resembles R. australis so closely, that it can hardly 

 be distinguished except by its shorter toes. This fact is another 

 striking instance of the law that secondary sexual characters 

 are often widely different in closely-allied forms, though it is 

 a very rare circumstance when such differences relate to the 

 female sex. The young of both sexes of R. bengalensls in their 

 first plumage are said to resemble the mature male." There is 

 also reason to believe that the male undertakes the duty of 



pp. 178, ISO, 186, and 188. In the British Museum specimens of the Aus- 

 tralian Plain-wanderer (Pedionomus torquatus) may be seen, showing 

 similar sexual differences. 



" Jerdon, 'Birds of India,' vol. iii. p. 596. Mr. Swinhoe, in 'Ibis,' 

 1865, p. 542; 1866, pp. 131, 405. 



" Jerdon, 'Birds of India," vol. iii. p. 677. 



" Gould's 'Handbook to the Birds of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 275. 



" 'The Indian Field,' Sept. 1858, p. 3. 



