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The Descent of Man

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has been seen with five spurs. <strong>The</strong> spurs are<br />

generally confined to the male, being represented<br />

by mere knobs or rudiments in the female;<br />

but the females <strong>of</strong> the Java peacock (Pavo muticus)<br />

and, as I am informed by Mr. Blyth, <strong>of</strong> the<br />

small fire-backed pheasant (Euplocamus erythrophthalmus)<br />

possess spurs. In Galloperdix it is<br />

usual for the males to have two spurs, and for<br />

the females to have only one on each leg. (15.<br />

Jerdon, 'Birds <strong>of</strong> India': on Ithaginis, vol. iii. p.<br />

523; on Galloperdix, p. 541.) Hence spurs may<br />

be considered as a masculine structure, which<br />

has been occasionally more or less transferred<br />

to the females. Like most other secondary<br />

sexual characters, the spurs are highly variable,<br />

both in number and development, in the same<br />

species.<br />

[Fig.38. Palamedea cornuta (from Brehm), shewing<br />

the double wing-spurs, and the filament<br />

on the head.]

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