THE SEX OF HYBRID BIRDS. 197 



In looking over the literature of the subject to see if anything 

 had been recorded concerning the sex of hybrids outside the 

 group Phasianidse, I found that in general little attention had 

 been paid to it. Some mention is made of the sex of hybrids in 

 Suchetet's 1 voluminous work on hybrid birds. In speaking 

 (p. cxvii) of hybrids and mongrels, he asserts that among the 

 former he believes there are more males than females,, and he 

 cites various authorities in substantiation of his belief. Thus, 

 according to data collected by Buffon, there are more male than 

 female mules and Buffon asserts, furthermore, that among hybrid 

 birds the number of males exceeds very much that of females. 

 Suchetet cites the following figures from Buffon : the proportion 

 of males to females in hybrids between the he-goat and the ewe 

 are 7 to 2 ; between the dog and the wolf, 3 to i ; between the 

 goldfinch and the canary, 16 to 3. Suchetet cites still further 

 examples from other authorities, but he seems not to have gone 

 over his own extensive notes on hybrids with this question of sex 

 in mind. For example, on pages cxxi cxxxiv he gives a state- 

 ment in tabular form of data collected from some eighty-five pub- 

 lic and private museums concerning in all 234 2 specimens of 

 hybrids between wild birds (i. e., not domesticated) or of forms 

 reputed to be such hybrids. Since in many cases the sex of these 

 hybrids has been given, I have gone through the tables and 

 arranged the birds according to sex as far as it is indicated, with 

 the following results: 



Of hybrids between species bearing the same generic name 

 there are in all 124, of which 72 were male, 18 female and 34 

 of undetermined sex. The remaining no hybrids were between 

 individuals bearing different generic names and of these 74 were 

 male, 13 were female and 23 were of undetermined sex. Thus 

 it will be seen that the males far outnumber the females in each 

 case. Furthermore, this would remain true in the proportion of 

 about 3 to 2, even should it be counted that all those of undeter- 

 mined sex were female ! 



In his later amplifications of this list he discusses (p. 507) 48 



1 Suchetet, Andre, " Des Hybrides a L'Etat Sauvage ; Oiseaux," Vol. I., 

 1896, Lille. A large volume of over 1,000 pages. 



- Suchetet states the total as 236 but he has made an error of 2 in his 

 addition on page cxxxii. 



