:::::«v near the twin volcanos m:: 



MOTMOTS' TAILS, YOUNG MALE AND ADULT FEMALE 



ately for this theory, the habit is as strong in the one 

 sex as in the other. When the feathers grow ont ane^v, 

 althongh the barbs are all present, yet the vane at this 

 point is narrower than elsewhere, perhaps showing that 

 the continnal exercise of this habit for generation after 

 generation is in some way having an hereditary effect. 

 But we cannot be at all sure about this ; the inheritance 

 of acquired characters is too unproved a theory to war- 

 rant any such assertion. The real cause of the habit 

 would be a most interesting one to solve. In some of 

 the birds which we saw the process had just begun, only 

 a few barbs being torn away. 



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