From G. R. Gray 8 April 1868
British Museum
8th. April 1868
Dear Sir
I must trouble you with a line to say that the difference between the sexes of the Ibis rubra is, that the female is smaller than the male.— It is stated, that the bird is three year old, before it assumes the Scarlet plumage.1
Yours faithfully | G. R. Gray
C. Darwin, Esqre.
Footnotes
Ibis rubrais a synonym of Eudocimus ruber, the scarlet ibis (see letter from G. R. Gray, 2 April 1868 and n. 1). For more on plumage variations and size difference in the scarlet ibis, see Hancock et al. 1992, pp. 147–9.
Summary
Difference between sexes of Ibis rubra; change in plumage.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6105
- From
- George Robert Gray
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- British Museum
- Source of text
- DAR 84.1: 92
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6105,” accessed on 25 March 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6105.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 16
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