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The Descent of Man

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I will specify the few other cases known to me,<br />

in which the female is more conspicuously coloured<br />

than the male, although nothing is<br />

known about the manner <strong>of</strong> incubation. With<br />

the carrion-hawk <strong>of</strong> the Falkland Islands (Milvago<br />

leucurus) I was much surprised to find by<br />

dissection that the individuals, which had all<br />

their tints strongly pronounced, with the cere<br />

and legs orange-coloured, were the adult females;<br />

whilst those with duller plumage and grey<br />

legs were the males or the young. In an Australian<br />

tree- creeper (Climacteris erythrops) the<br />

female differs from the male in "being adorned<br />

with beautiful, radiated, rufous markings on<br />

the throat, the male having this part quite<br />

plain." Lastly, in an Australian night-jar "the<br />

female always exceeds the male in size and in<br />

the brilliance <strong>of</strong> her tints; the males, on the other<br />

hand, have two white spots on the primaries<br />

more conspicuous than in the female." (25.<br />

For the Milvago, see 'Zoology <strong>of</strong> the Voyage <strong>of</strong><br />

the "Beagle," Birds,' 1841, p. 16. For the Climac-

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