( (ifiT ) 



ON ALBINO SWALLOWS AND WHEATEARS. 

 By thb: lum. Walter eothschtld. 



SO very little is known at present ulidnt albinism that any little contribution to 

 its tinderstanding is welcome. Therefore I think the following remarks will 

 be of some interest, and perhaps more so than a list and description of the many 

 entirely and partly albinistic specimens of birds and mammals which I have 

 brought together since I began to collect. 



In 1891 I was told that four white swallows {Ilirundo rustica Liun.) were 

 hatched in a nest in the town of Aylesbury, which all flew away. In 1892 one white 

 swallow was hatched by the same pair, and was brought to me for sale, which I 

 bought accordingly, and placed it in my Museum. The rest of the young in the 

 nest were said to have been of the usual colour. In 1803 the nest contained two 

 white and three regularly coloured ones, which were all brought to me. In 1894 two 

 white and two regularly coloured ones were in the nest ; the white were a male and 

 a female. This shows that one pair produced albinoes through four years, and I 

 shall be informed about its offsijring next year again. All the albinoes were 

 ])erfectly white, and they are all in my Museum. 



But in 1894 another nest in the same town contained two vi\\\te. Jhmdes, and 

 two or three birds of the usual colour ! It is very likely that they are close relations 

 to the old pair, and I shall be able to record aliout this pair also next year again. 



In July 1894 four young wheatears (Saxicola ofimnthe) were sent me by 

 Brazenor Bros., all shot at Lakenheath, Suffolk, and all said to be out of one nest, 

 which is more than probable, as they all four show albinism in exactly the same 

 style. In one the top of the head and neck, down to the rump and back, is white, 

 intermixed with a few dark feathers only ; while the others show the same white 

 colour on the same parts, but less of it, and one has only the top of the head and 

 neck strongly intermixed with white feathers, and a few white spots on the back 

 and rumj). 



