590 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



here the tail differs in color in the two sexes in exactly 

 the same manner as the whole upper surface in the two 

 sexes of Carcineutes. 



With parrots, which likewise build in holes, we find 

 analogous cases; in most of the species both sexes are bril- 

 liantly colored and indistinguishable, but in not a few spe- 

 cies the males are colored rather more vividly than the fe- 

 males, or even very differently from them. Thus, besides 

 other strongly marked differences, the whole under surface 

 of the male King Lory {Aprosmictus scapulatus) is' scarlet, 

 while the throat and chest of the female is green tinged with 

 red; in the Euphema sphndida there is a similar difference, 

 the face and wing-coverts moreover of the female being of 

 a paler blue than in the male." In the family of the tits 

 {Parinoe) which build concealed nests, the female of our 

 common blue tomtit {Parus coeruleus) is "much less brightly 

 colored" than the male; and in the magnificent Sultan yellow 

 tit of India the difference is greater." 



Again, in the great group of the woodpeckers" the sexes 

 are generally nearly alike, but in the Megapicus validas all 

 those parts of the head, neck, and breast which are crimson 

 in the male are pale brown in the female. As in several 

 woodpeckers the head of the male is bright crimson, while 

 that of the female is plain, it occurred to me that this color 

 might possibly make the female dangerously conspicuous, 

 whenever she put her head out of the hole containing her 

 nest, and consequently that this color, in accordance with 

 Mr. Wallace's belief, had been eliminated. This view is 

 strengthened by what Malherbe states with respect to Indo- 

 picus carlotta ; namely, that the young females, like the 

 young males, have some crimson about their heads, but 

 that this color disappears in the adult female, while it is 



" Every gradation of difference between the sexes may be followed in the 

 parrots of Australia. See Gould's "Handbook," etc., vol. ii. pp. 14-102. 



" Maogillivray's "British Birds," vol. ii. p. 433. Jerdon, "Birds of India," 

 vol. ii. p. 282. 



" All the following facts are taken from M. Malherbe's magniflcent "Mono- 

 graphie des Picid^es," 1861, 



