9i 



Only recently, it has been shown that the Yellow-ruinped 

 Weaver Finch {Munia flaviprymna) of Australia shows in some 

 cases a decided tendency to turn into the Chestnut-breasted 

 Finch (M. castaneithorax). 



In addition to variation in colour we have also to consider 

 structural variations, though these are very much rarer and less 

 conspicuous. Fanciers are, however, familiar with the slender 

 Yorkshires and the chubby Norwich type in Canaries and wild 

 Finches, and this probably is very widely distributed. The shape 

 of the beak is a structural point in which variation is familiar in 

 some birds, especially in the case of the Goldfinch, in some in- 

 dividuals of which, a slightly arched form of bill occurs. This 

 variation reaches its maximum in the Reed Bunting (Emberiza 

 schceniclns) of which there is in some localities a race with a bill 

 almost like that of a Bullfinch (E. pyrr/nt hides), yet it seems to 

 grade into the ordinary kind with the typical Bunting's bill. It 

 is easy to see how variations of this kind may be of advantage to 

 their possessors and thus how the form of the beak might 

 become fixed under certain circumstances. I have seen the head 

 of a Rook, with a prolonged and slender bill, very like a Chough's 

 and there is a skull of a very long-billed Starling in the British 

 Museum. 



A very remarkable variation is that which sometimes 

 occurs in the common Pigeon, which is at times partially web- 

 footed. I have only once seen such a specimen myself, but of 

 late years quite a number have been reported. The character is 

 not, I believe, usually inherited, but should anyone desire it, I 

 have no doubt that by selection a race of web-footed Pigeons 

 could be perpetuated. It is easy to see how this variation might 

 be useful. The Pigeon, although in no way a water-bird, will 

 sometimes alight on water to drink when the element is not easy 

 of access from the shore. The web-footed specimen ought to 

 have a considerable advantage when starting again. It is possible 

 that in this way water-fowl became web-footed. No doubt when 

 their ancestors first took to swimming they had no web to their 

 feet, as is still the case with the Rails. 



This brings us to the subject of the propagation of vari- 

 ations. Attempts to do this often end in disappointment. Some 



