614 THE DESCENT OF MAN 



than the male, " but in 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 of 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 hj 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 Tur- 

 nix 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 earshot run rapidly 

 to the spot, and commence fighting with the caged bird." 

 In this way from twelve to twenty birds, all breeding fe- 

 males, may be caught in the course of a single day. The 

 natives assert that the females after laying their eggs asso- 

 ciate 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 

 (Ehynchsea, 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 Rhynchcea australis it is simple in the male, while 

 in the female it makes four distinct convolutions before 

 entering the lungs." The female, therefore, of this species 

 has acquired an eminently masculine character. Mr. Blyth 



'* For tbe Australian species, see Gould's "Handbook," etc., vol. li. pp. 

 118, 180, 186, and 188. In the British Museum specimens of the Australian 

 Plain-wanderer {Pedionomus torquatus) may be seen, showing similar sexual 

 differences. 



'6 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. 6tt. 



" Gould's "Handbook to the Birds of Australia," vol. ii. p. 2t5. 



