The Descent of Man

fluence on any other characters; and I am informed
by Mr. Bartlett that eight or nine specimens
of the Knot (Tringa canutus) retained
their unadorned winter plumage in the Zoological
Gardens throughout the year, from which
fact we may infer that the summer plumage,
though common to both sexes, partakes of the
nature of the exclusively masculine plumage of
many other birds. (80. In regard to the previous
statements on moulting, see, on snipes, etc.,
Macgillivray, 'Hist. Brit. Birds,' vol. iv. p. 371;
on Glareolae, curlews, and bustards, Jerdon,
'Birds of India,' vol. iii. pp. 615, 630, 683; on
Totanus, ibid. p. 700; on the plumes of herons,
ibid. p. 738, and Macgillivray, vol. iv. pp. 435
and 444, and Mr. Stafford Allen, in the 'Ibis,'
vol. v. 1863, p. 33.)
From the foregoing facts, more especially from
neither sex of certain birds changing colour
during either annual moult, or changing so
slightly that the change can hardly be of any