Sexual equality in birds

[igenlode]

This afternoon on the radio I heard one of the more breathtaking stupid pieces of scientific claptrap that I've come across, from a museum curator none the less, who was (by his voice) a young man bemoaning the arrant sexism of the scientists who defined the 'type specimen' for the majority of birds as being represented by the male of the species. Apparently it had not occurred to him -- as it immediately occurred to the (female non-scientist) presenter -- that if you tried to represent the appearance of bird species using female rather than male specimens then you would simply end up with a vast number of bespeckled 'little brown jobs'; not at all helpful in terms of distinguishing features!

Sometimes ideology can really get in the way...