AN AUSTRALIAN BIRD BOOK. 
21 
Bustard Quail family, the Australian Plain Wanderer has the 
hind toe. The females of this order of birds do the fighting. 
In Quail, the rule often observed amongst birds that the male 
is larger and more beautiful than the female may be reversed, 
for here the female is sometimes larger and the more conspicu- 
ously colored. In association with this reversal of color and 
size, the domestic habits are changed, for, in some species at 
least, the female sits on the eggs but a very short time; the male 
then finishes the task of incubating, and brings up and educates 
the young family. Meantime, the female has found another 
mate and another clutch of eggs is left to the care of the male. 
In birds having both sexes the same color each bird usually 
does its share of domestic work, sitting' on the eggs, feeding the 
young, etc. Where the male is more brightly colored, he, as a 
rule, does not sit on the eggs, for he would be visible to a bird 
of prey sailing overhead, and so would probably be killed and 
the eggs taken. The great naturalist, Alfred Russel Wallace, 
thus regards the quiet coloration of most female birds as a 
protection during the nesting season. The gaudy coloration of 
many male birds has been explained by Darwin as being due to 
sexual selection, the female choosing as a mate the most gaily 
colored or most attractive bird. 
Though the sitting bird is usually protectively colored, it was 
our good fortune, on a Summer School excursion, attended by 
His Excellency the Governor (Sir Thomas Gibson-Carmichael), a 
keen Nature-lover, and the Director of Education (Mr. F. Tate), 
to find the gorgeously-colored male Golden-breasted Whistler 
(Thickhead) sitting on the eggs in full daylight. It was noted, 
however, that the open nest was unusually well protected by an 
overhead bushy branch. 
In Order IV. come those well-known birds — the "Cooers," 
Pigeons and Doves. The Australian region is the great strong- 
hold of these often beautiful birds. It is only in this region 
that members of each of the five families of living Pigeons are 
found. Two of the five families are peculiar to the region, and 
nearly half the kinds of Pigeons known are found here. The 
finest and largest of all Pigeons are the large Crowned Pigeons 
of New Guinea. Unfortunately, the heads of these Pigeons are 
much in demand for millinery. Would that fashionable 
women knew the cruelty and devastation wrought by such 
fashions! 
Amongst the most beautiful of Pigeons are, as Dr. Newton re- 
marked, the common Bronzewing Pigeons of Australia and 
Tasmania. The lovely Fruit-Pigeons of Bast Australian scrubs 
are, perhaps, the most beautiful of all, so it will readily be seen 
how fortunate we are with regard to these birds. 
The fine large Wonga-Wonga Pigeon is becoming rare. Its 
flesh is white, so Gould named it Leucosarcia (white flesh). It 
has been proposed to introduce this bird into Europe to breed 
for table purposes. 
The birds of Order V. are amongst the successes in the struggle 
for existence, for they are found the world over. 
