Ornithological and Other Oddities 



tween the pintail (Dafila acuta) and the domestic 

 duck, the descendant of the mallard, may be 

 especially cited. In one instance ducklings were 

 obtained from a pair of these hybrids, and more 

 than once the hybrid has bred again with the 

 pure pintail, the last instance being one recorded 

 by Mr. J. F. B. Sharpe in the " Feathered 

 World." In this case the hybrid duck laid eight 

 eggs, all of which were fertile, and hatched seven 

 ducklings, one egg having been cracked. She 

 proved a particularly careful and intelligent 

 mother, thus recalling the good repute of the 

 mule canary as a nurse. 



The fact that the pintail and mallard can 

 produce a fertile cross shows that there is some 

 other cause besides mutual sterility which keeps 

 species distinct in the wild state, for, as I said 

 above, the pintail-mallard hybrid is one of the 

 best-known wild-bred hybrids, and yet the two 

 species remain distinct on the whole. 



Double hybrid ducks have occurred, as well 

 as pheasants. M. G. Rogeron, of Angers, has 

 bred many most remarkable ones from a hybrid 

 between mallard and gad wall {Chaulelasmus 

 streperus) mated to a pochard (Nyroca ferina\ 

 and more recently Mr. J. L. Bonhote has suc- 

 ceeded in raising ducks in which the blood of 

 the pintail, mallard, and Indian spot-billed duck 

 (Anas poecilorhyncha) was combined. 



