On Paired Ovaries
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¾ol.1935 LII] J GeneralNotes. 329 From three feet below the surface in the humus layer at Los Tamarindos, which in point of antiquity antedatesthe time of the Spanishdiscovery (as no glassbeads or iron objects are found among the human artifacts), the following birds are identi- fied: Brazilian Cormorant (Phalacrocoraxolivaceus) and the Horned Screamer (An- hima cornuta). In the deeperlayers, from six to eleven feet from the surface,the following were obtained:Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps), Brazilian Cormorant (Phalacro- coraxolivaceus), Cocoi Heron (Ardea cocoi),Egret (Casmerodiusalbus), Wood Ibis ( Mycteria americana), Gray-breasted Tree-duck (Dendrocygnaautumnalis discolor), Fnlvous Tree-duck (Dendrocygnabicolor), White-faced Tree Duck (Dendrocygna viduata), Black-collared Hawk (Busarellusnigricollis), Red-winged Hawk (Hetero- spiziasmeridionalis), another Hawk of the genusButeo, Curassow (Crax alberti),Purple Gallinule(Ionornis martinica), Gallinnle (Gallinula chloropus), Rusty Dove (Leptotila verreauxi),a large Macaw (Ara sp.), an Amazon Parrot (Amazonasp.), a small Paroquetof uncertaingenus, and the Cayenne0wl (Rhinoptynxclamator). The midden depositsat the Hacienda Tocor6n yielded the following: Brazilian Cormorant (Phalacrocoraxolivaceus), an Ibis (Guarasp.), Horned Screamer(Anhima cornuta), Gray-breasted Tree-duck (Dendrocygnaautumnalis discolor),White-faced Tree-duck (Dendrocygnaviduata), Baldpate (Mareca americana), Muscovy Duck (Cairina moschata),Limpkin (Aramus scoIopaceus),and a Gallinule (Gallinula chloropus). In the sandpit at Cascabelthere was found a humerus of the White-faced Tree- duck (Dendrocygna viduata). The Baldpate, representedby a left humerus lacking the head, has not been recorded previously, so far as I am aware, from Venezuela. The other birds are thosethat are to be expectedin this locality, the majority beingforms that frequent aquatic or m•rshy habitats.--AL•x•n W•Tnon•, U.S. National Museum, Washington,D.C. On P&ired Ov&ries.--The persistenceof but a singleovary, the left, is the normaJ condition in birds, though there are well known exceptions. The work of Gunn,' KummerlSwe? FitzpatrickS and many others, but especially that of Gunn, has brought out the fact that bilateral development of ovaries is not uncommon in Hawks. In the gene•aAccipiter, Circus and Falcothe bilateralcondition may be as common as the unilateral condition. Occasional instances were recorded of the presenceof paired ovariesin quite unrelatedspecies as Grebe, Fulmar, •)uck, Swan, Grouse,Rail, Gull, Woodcock,0wl, Thrush, Rook and Sparrow. While in Madagascarand New Guinea,collecting birds for the AmericanMuseum, I noted the bilatera• developmentof ovariesin somespecies of Hawks, but not in others, and alsofound this condition not unusualin certain Parrots and Lories. Its occurrencein Parrotsand Lories has apparently not beenrecorded. In the species I examinedthe right ovary varied from one-fourth the size to nearly the same size as the left. In somecases the right ovary showedsome enlargement but in no instance did this enlargementapproach a breedingcondition. Rudimentsof a right oviduct were found but in no instancedid it appear functional. The followingis a list of the speciesin which I observed•ight ovariespresent. (The numberof specimensexamined of the Madagascarspecies was not kept care- fully.) 1912, Proceedings Zoological Society, London, pp. 72, 73. 1931, Zeitschr. f. mikroskop.-•n•tom. Forschung, 24, pp. 614-621. 1934, Wilson Bulletin, XLVI, pp. 19-22. 330 GeneralNotes. [July[-Auk No. females with No. females right ovary present examined Machaerhamphusanderssoni 1 Haliastur sphenurus 1 Accipiter madagascariensis 2 Accipiterfrancesii 11 A ccipiterfasciatus 5 Accipiter novaehollandiae 1 Circus aeruginosus 1 Gymnogenysradiatus 1 Ieracidea berigora 2 2 Coracopsisnigra Several Chalcopsittascintillata 1 3 Trichoglossushaematodus 1 8 Eelecrus roratus 2 4 Psittacella brehmii i 5 Thus the presenceof a right ovary seemsnot uncommon in certain Parrots and Lories as well as in some Hawks. Some of Itiddle's• work, done some time ago, is suggestivein this connection. Working with Pigeons,he found some females with persistent right ovaries and observedthat this condition occurred almost wholly in females hatched from eggs otherwiseknown to have the greatestor strongestfemale producingtendency, and from which a high per cent of femaleshatched. May it be that the not uncommonpersistence of a right ovary in certain groups of birds is indicative of a tendency toward femalenessin these species,and further- more may be expressedin the sex ratio, there being a larger number of femalesthan males in these forms? I have no data on the sex ratios of these birds, but possibly there is some such correlation as suggestedabove. There seemsto be no general correlation between the developmentof bilateral ovaries and sexual dimorphism. In the Hawks the chief sexual differenceconsists of the females being larger; in Eclectusroratus the female is slightly smaller and largely red, while the male is larger and chiefly green. In Psitacellabrehmii the male is brighter and slightly larger. In the other Parrots there is little difference betweenthe sexesexcept the slightly smallersize of the female.--A. L. I{xNn, Amer. Museum Nat. Hist., New York. 1916, American Naturalist, L, pp. 409, 410. .