XV. 
LENGTH OF TAIL IN FEMALE. 
165 
known 7 that she “enters the nest head first, 
“ |j j'ken turns round with her tail sometimes over 
1 i'h . C 'k> knt more often bent round by her side. 
“ t 0 j ,)s 7, i time the tail becomes quite askew, and is a 
b^le guide to the length of time the bird lias 
1 S| tting-.” Both sexes of an Australian kingfisher 
(Ju . un e- Joott 
S1jlvia) 
i. .sHiermri . ,i „ 
have the middle tail-leathers greatly 
h 0 £ e ned; and as the female makes her nest in a 
If jj k |r ‘ S3 feathers become, as I am informed by Mr. 
hi ktttpe, much crumpled during nidification. 
. iese two cases the great length of the tail-feathers 
m some degree inconvenient to the female ; 
4r e 8 111 both species the tail-feathers of the female 
lie . _ 1 e what shorter than those of the male, it might 
Vpjj. 8 Ue d that their full development had been pre- 
Cit Srig c . kirough natural selection. Judging from these 
had |j ^ " kh the peahen, the development of the tail 
Of ^ en decked only when it became inconveniently 
W. ge y°nsly long, she would have acquired a much 
hot ta d than she actually possesses; for her tail is 
hs tp eai, y so long, relatively to the size of her body, 
of 
th a t 
f 01 many female pheasants, nor longer than that 
that finale turkey. It must also be borne in mind, 
tin. ac cordance with this view as soon as the tail of 
d len became dangerously long, and its develop- 
*n. 
l hi 
ke Vfc ' le acted on her male progeny, and thus have 
*be peacock from acquiring his present mag- 
°t t] le tra m- We may therefore infer that the length 
btp a d in the peacock and its shortness in the pea- 
d>al e result of the requisite variations in the 
’tfi'sn,.; a ' ln g been from the first transmitted to the male 
P alone. 
Was 
consequently checked, she would have con- 
Mr. Ramsay, in ‘ Proc. Zoolog. Soc.’ 1S6S, p. 50. 
