COLOUR AND NIDIFICATION. 
175 
% 
Xv. 
Maj 
it 
occurred to me that this colour might possibly 
* le female dangerously conspicuous, whenever 
' 1 her head out of the hole containing her nest, 
h?' lsef l u ently that this colour, in accordance with 
face’s belief, had been eliminated. This view is 
*■**'«■* by what Malherbe states with respect to 
lik e q| U8 car lotta; namely, that the young females, 
® young males, have some crimson about their 
^ 1 * ;V| f that this colour disappears in the adult 
^ intensified in the adult male. Nevcr- 
following considerations render this view 
feculj. - doubtful: the male takes a fair share in 
V" l0D , 25 and would be thus far almost equally 
,||( dr 6r 
^ danger ; both sexes of many species have 
'i^; lea ^ s of an equally bright crimson ; in other 
fl -i . 
° ^ai‘l 6 c ^ erence between the sexes in the amount 
M'fftej 80 that it can hardly make any 
difference in the danger incurred ; and 
^tty tl 
diff co ^ ou ™ e °f t' 10 head in the two 
sexes 
1’i le “ uers slightly in other ways. 
as yet given, of slight and graduated 
the"''' 
1,1 a lLes in colour between the males and females 
ill 
^likl ^ r ° u P s , i u which as a general rule the sexes 
6 6ac ^ otdior, all relate to species which build 
^"ij,' 1 ' coacea fe ( l nests. But similar gradations may 
^ a ^ observed in groups in whieb the sexes 
' ^ r ‘ a 6ra ^ ru fe resemble each other, but which build 
Hr 0 ( g sts - As I have before instanced the Australian 
■his ' , i ° ^ ma y here instance, without giving any 
*He e le Australian pigeons. 26 It deserves especial 
at in all these cases the slight differences in 
«,**> Vof ;° U 8 ‘ Ornithological Biography,’ vol. ii. p. 75 ; see also the 
bald’s J'b 268 - 
Handbook of the Birds of Australia,’ vol. ii. p. 109-149. 
