SEXUAL SELECTION 609 



especial attention that brilliant colors have been transferred 

 much more rarely than other tints. For instance, the male 

 of the red- throated bluebreast {Cyanecula suecica) has a rich 

 blue breast, including a sub-triangular red mark; now marks 

 of nearly the same shape have been transferred to the fe- 

 male, but the central space is fulvous instead of red, and 

 is surrounded by mottled instead of blue feathers. The 

 Gallinacese offer many analogous cases; for none of the 

 species, such as partridges, quails, guinea fowl, etc., in 

 which the colors of the plumage have been largely trans- 

 ferred from the male to the female, is brilliantly colored. 

 This is well exemplified with the pheasants, in which the 

 male is generally so much more brilliant than the female; 

 but with the Eared _ and Cheer pheasants {Crossoptilon auri- 

 tuTTi and Phasianus wallichii) the sexes closely resemble 

 each other and their colors are dull. We may go so far 

 as to believe that if any part of the plumage in the males 

 of these two pheasants had been brilliantly colored, it 

 would not have been transferred to the females. These 

 facts strongly support Mr. Wallace's view that with birds 

 which are exposed to much danger during incubation, the 

 transference of bright colors from the male to the female 

 has been checked through natural selection. We must not, 

 however, forget that another explanation, before given, is 

 possible; namely, that the males which varied and became 

 bright, while they were young and inexperienced, would 

 have been exposed to much danger, and would generally 

 have been destroyed; the older and more cautious males, 

 on the other hand, if they varied in a like manner, would 

 not only have been able to survive, but would have been 

 favored in their rivalry with other males. Now, variations 

 occurring late in life tend to be transmitted exclusively to 

 the same sex, so that in this case extremely bright tints 

 would not have been transmitted to the females. On the 

 other hand, ornaments of a less conspicuous kind, such as 

 those possessed by the Bared and Cheer pheasants, would 

 not have been dangerous, and if they appeared during 



