[339] I have received information, hereafter to be given, to this effect with respect to poultry. Even with birds, such as pigeons, which pair for life, the female, as I hear from Mr. Jenner Weir, will desert her mate if he is injured or grows weak.
[340] On the Gorilla, Savage and Wyman, ‘Boston Journal of Nat. Hist.’ vol. v. 1845-47, p. 423. On Cynocephalus, Brehm, ‘Illust. Thierleben,’ B. i. 1864, s. 77. On Mycetes, Rengger, ‘Naturgesch.: Säugethiere von Paraguay,’ 1830, s. 14, 20. On Cebus, Brehm, ibid. s. 108.
[341] Pallas, ‘Spicilegia Zoolog.’ Fasc. xii. 1777, p. 29. Sir Andrew Smith, ‘Illustrations of the Zoology of S. Africa,’ 1849, pl. 29, on the Kobus. Owen, in his ‘Anatomy of Vertebrates’ (vol. iii. 1868, p. 633) gives a table incidentally showing which species of Antelopes pair and which are gregarious.
[342] Dr. Campbell, in ‘Proc. Zoolog. Soc.’ 1869, p. 138. See also an interesting paper, by Lieut. Johnstone, in ‘Proc. Asiatic Soc. of Bengal,’ May, 1868.
[343] ‘The Ibis,’ vol. iii. 1861, p. 133, on the Progne Widow-bird. See also on the Vidua axillaris, ibid. vol. ii. 1860, p. 211. On the polygamy of the Capercailzie and Great Bustard, see L. Lloyd, ‘Game Birds of Sweden,’ 1867, p. 19, and 182. Montagu and Selby speak of the Black Grouse as polygamous and of the Red Grouse as monogamous.
[344] The Rev. E. S. Dixon, however, speaks positively (‘Ornamental Poultry,’ 1848, p. 76) about the eggs of the guinea-fowl being infertile when more than one female is kept with the same male.
[345] Noel Humphreys, ‘River Gardens,’ 1857.
[346] Kirby and Spence, ‘Introduction to Entomology,’ vol. iii. 1826, p. 342.
[347] One parasitic Hymenopterous insect (Westwood, ‘Modern Class. of Insects,’ vol. ii, p. 160) forms an exception to the rule, as the male has rudimentary wings, and never quits the cell in which it is born, whilst the female has well-developed wings. Audouin believes that the females are impregnated by the males which are born in the same cells with them; but it is much more probable that the females visit other cells, and thus avoid close inter-breeding. We shall hereafter meet with a few exceptional cases, in various classes, in which the female, instead of the male, is the seeker and wooer.
[348] ‘Essays and Observations,’ edited by Owen, vol. i. 1861, p. 194.