“Nor is the human race exempt from the operation of the law which prevails in the Mammalia. In women, at an advanced age, hair appears on the chin and upper lip, and the voice alters, becoming deep in its tone. The beard in old men becomes thin and soft, and our own inimitable Shakespeare has told us,
* * * his big manly voice
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound.”
Gurney (1888) has recorded several cases in which female birds have assumed male plumage. For instance, he describes a female merganser, Mergus serrator, assuming male plumage that showed no signs of disease in the ovary. Mr. Cecil Smith had a female widgeon (Mareca penelope) on his ponds near Trenton, which assumed the male plumage some years ago, and which, so far as he knew, had not had young nor laid eggs.
“On May 16th, 1887, a chaffinch (Fringilla cœelebs) in full male plumage was shot at Chapel Town, near Leeds, in Yorkshire, by the son of Mr. W. L. Jackson, M. P.; it was skinned by G. R. Grassham, assistant to Mr. W. E. Clarke at the Museum, who, much to his surprise, found that it was a female, and contained an egg, ready for laying, of a pale blue, without markings, and another egg in a less forward state. This chaffinch is in every way in perfect male plumage, and I am indebted to Mr. Clarke for his kindness in sending these particulars with the specimen, which he received from Grassham a few hours after the latter had dissected the bird.
“In the ‘Norwich Nat. Trans.,’ an enumeration was given of female Redstarts (Ruticilla phoenicurus) assuming male plumage (l.c.) to which the following may be added: a hen R. phoenicurus assuming male plumage, and very like Mr. Millais’ described in the ‘Norwich Nat. Trans.’ iv., p. 182, was caught by Mr. W. E. Clarke sitting upon her eggs, at Wike, near Leeds, in June, 1886; at the same time Mr. Clarke saw the cock close by, which appeared to be in the ordinary male plumage. The late Mr. Henry Doubleday’s collection contained a hen Redstart (R. phoenicurus) in male plumage, which had the ovaries ‘quite perfect and full of eggs’ (cf. B. of Norf., i, p. 370, note), probably one of those alluded to by Yarrell (Brit. B. 1st ed. i, p. 240) in the remarks made by him on the plumage of this species. I have some recollection of this Redstart at the dispersal of Mr. Doubleday’s collection, but do not know who was the purchaser of it. There can be no doubt that more would soon turn up if looked for; and now that attention has been drawn to the subject, and the practice of dissection is getting more general among bird stuffers, it is certain to be the case, not only in Ruticilla, but in other genera besides. Why it should happen in Ruticilla phoenicurus oftener than in other Passerine birds is hard to explain, but such is evidently the case.”
“The same is recorded to have happened five or six times with the female Red-backed Shrike (Lanius colluria); see ‘the Field,’ June 17, 1871, and April 25, 1885; Mag. N. H., iv, p. 344; ‘B. of Suffolk,’ p. 45; ‘Ibis,’ 1863, p. 292; but the number of hen Redstarts which have donned masculine attire is greater.
“The following is a list of the species in which one or more instances of females assuming male plumage are ascertained to have occurred:
- Falco aesalon, fide Scully. (Cf. Sharpe, ‘Cat. Birds Brit. Mus.,’ i, p. 407).
- Tinnunculus alaudarius, fide Sharpe; col. fig. P. Z. S., 1874, p. 580.
- Lanius collurio, fide Hoy.
- Lanius vittatus, fide Blyth.
- Ruticilla phœnicurus, fide Millais, Clarke and others.
- Fringilla cœlebs, fide Clarke.
- Linota cannabina, fide Blyth.
- Linota rufescens, fide Blyth.
- Nectarinia asiatica, fide Blyth.
- Gallus (domestic fowl), fide Yarrell and others; col. fig. “B. of Sherwood,” p. 183.
- Pavo (peahen), fide Latham; fig. “Synopsis,” ii, pl. 60.
- Meleagris (Turkey), fide Bechstein.
- Phasianus colchicus, fide Edwards and others. Of common occurrence in a semi-domesticated state.
- Thaumalea picta, fide Edwards.
- Euplocamus nycthemerus, fide Yarrell.
- Pucrasia nipalensis, fide Blyth.
- Tetrao tetrix, fide Bond; col. fig. Dresser, “B. of Eur.,” vi, 205.
- Tetrao urogallus, fide Nilsson; col. fig. “Unser Auer-, Rackel- und Birkwild und seine Abarten,” by A. B. Meyer.
- Otis tarda, fide Tiedmann.
- Anas (domestic duck), fide Rowley; col. fig. “Orn. Misc.,” i, p. 118.
- Anas boschas, fide Hancock; fig. col. “Scandinavisk Fauna,” pl. 163.
- Fuligula marila, fide Blyth; see also P. Z. S., 1885, p. 246.
- Mergus serrator, fide Gurney.
- Mareca penelope, fide Cecil Smith.
“Perhaps the Kestrel (Tinnunculus alaudarius) ought not to be included in this catalogue, for so many have been seen with the lower part of the back blue or bluish, as to leave little doubt that the female generally becomes so if she lives long enough.
“It is said that the females in Oriolus generally become as bright as males in time (‘Ibis,’ 1864, p. 412; ‘Field,’ June 24th and July 8th, 1871).”