Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of EssaysWallace, Alfred Russel
Science
Contributions to the Theory of Natural Selection: A Series of Essays
Wallace, Alfred Russel
Natural selection
Passing to the island of Ceram, we find allied species of both genera.
The Tropidorhynchus subcornutus is of an earthy brown colour washed with
yellow ochre, with bare orbits, dusky cheeks, and the usual pale
recurved nape-ruff. The Mimeta forsteni is absolutely identical in the
tints of every part of the body, the details of which are imitated in
the same manner as in the Bouru birds already described. In two other
islands there is an approximation towards mimicry, although it is not so
perfect as in the two preceding cases. In Timor the Tropidorhynchus
timoriensis is of the usual earthy brown above, with the nape-ruff very
prominent, the cheeks black, the throat nearly white, and the whole
under surface pale whitish brown. These various tints are all well
reproduced in Mimeta virescens, the chief want of exact imitation being
that the throat and breast of the Tropidorhynchus has a very scaly
appearance, being covered with rigid pointed feathers which are not
imitated in the Mimeta, although there are signs of faint dusky spots
which may easily furnish the groundwork of a more exact imitation by the
continued survival of favourable variations in the same direction. There
is also a large knob at the base of the bill of the Tropidorhynchus
which is not at all imitated by the Mimeta. In the island of Morty
(north of Gilolo) there exists the Tropidorhynchus fuscicapillus, of a
dark sooty brown colour, especially on the head, while the under parts
are rather lighter, and the characteristic ruff of the nape is wanting.
Now it is curious that in the adjacent island of Gilolo should be found
the Mimeta phaeochromus, the upper surface of which is of exactly the
same dark sooty tint as the Tropidorhynchus, and is the only known
species that is of such a dark colour. The under side is not quite light
enough, but it is a good approximation. This Mimeta is a rare bird, and
may very probably exist in Morty, though not yet found there; or, on the
other hand, recent changes in physical geography may have led to the
restriction of the Tropidorhynchus to that island, where it is very
common.
Here, then, we have two cases of perfect mimicry and two others of good
approximation, occurring between species of the same two genera of
birds; and in three of these cases the pairs that resemble each other
are found together in the same island, and to which they are peculiar.
In all these cases the Tropidorhynchus is rather larger than the Mimeta,
but the difference is not beyond the limits of variation in species, and
the two genera are somewhat alike in form and proportion. There are, no
doubt, some special enemies by which many small birds are attacked, but
which are afraid of the Tropidorhynchus (probably some of the hawks),
and thus it becomes advantageous for the weak Mimeta to resemble the
strong, pugnacious, noisy, and very abundant Tropidorhynchus.
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