go 



occur among wild birds, especially in the case of some Hawks,. 

 Eagles, and Skua Gulls. Generally speaking, melanism is much 

 rarer in birds than albinism. Thus, no one has ever succeeded 

 in astonishing the world with a black Canary, nor are the 

 domestic Turtle-dove, Goose or Peacock, ever black. 



Another very curious and important form of colour varia- 

 tion must be here alluded to; it is when a variety is produced 

 which is neither black, white nor pallid, but one which shows a 

 distinct alteration of pattern. A most familiar case of this is 

 known as the Japan Peacock. In this bird, which is known to be 

 produced as a sport from the ordinary Peacock, the wings are 

 black, with purple and green edgings to the feathers, instead of 

 the usual speckled colour. Nevertheless, these birds are born 

 white, and only assume a dark plumage as they grow up. The 

 hens of the variety always remain white, with cinnamon quills, 

 and with a black tail and a greater or less amount of black 

 splashings or peppering on the upper surface. These birds will 

 breed true if paired together; if crossed with a common Peacock,, 

 intermediate forms are not produced, but the offsprings follow 

 one parent or the other. Another case is in the now rare dark- 

 throated form of the Gold Pheasant. In this bird the throat is 

 sooty and the shoulders black, whereas the common Gold 

 Pheasant has a buff throat and red shoulders. The centre tail 

 feathers in the dark-throated form are also striped like the side 

 ones ; whilst in the Gold Pheasant the centre feathers differ from 

 the rest by being spotted. The hens of this variety differ from 

 the common Gold Pheasant by being much darker in the ground 

 colour, and especially iu having the sides of the face black ; the 

 chicks are also darker. 



These forms have occured in domestic types, but some 

 time ago a very remarkable example of the Little Owl appeared 

 in the wild state in Italy. Normally, this Owl has very light 

 eyes and the plumage mostly barred. In the new variety, which 

 was found to be produced by parents of the ordinary kind, the 

 plumage was more streaked and the eyes dark, and thus it had 

 the appearance of an altogether distinct species, and might have 

 given us some idea of how species arise, had the whole family 

 not been exterminated by local ornithologists. 



