The Feeling’s Mutual

Abstract House Finches are sexually dichromatic, meaning the males have bright colors and females are drab. Some females, however, have some carotenoid coloration and female color shows the same environmental control and functions as male coloration. Pigment access, parasites, and nutrition affect female color, and males respond to female coloration during mate choice. Comparisons among finches related to House Finches indicate that red female coloration is not simply a correlated trait responding to selection on males.