4 (JARDKX AXn AVIARY P.IRPS. 



is called ii\ scientific lano:uaiie PhUj/cercus eximius, eximius 

 beiiiLi: a Latin worrl meanino- " excellent,"' on account 

 (»f the striking beauty of this showy bird. 



Iji coinniencin.a" this subject, I mentioned that indivi- 

 duals of a s])ecies usuaJJi/ produced younu like themselves, 

 i^ut they do not (thrai/s do so : the Rin<^-necked Parra- 

 keet, for instance, not unfrequei\tly produces a yellow 

 yoimii bird, quite different from its ordinary areen off- 

 spring. Such an individual is said to belong to a varietij 

 of the species : it came from fireen parents, and for all 

 we laiow. may. if it has the chance, produce green young 

 in its turn — may '"' throw back," as breeders say. 



If. however, common green Parrakeets never produced 

 yellow young, and if in a certain district, all the Parra- 

 keets of a certain Pah. amis type were yellow, we should 

 call this a species ; it would probably be known as 

 Pal'iornis luteus, hiteus being the Latin for " yellow." 

 We should presume that these birds were the offspring of 

 yellow parents, and would in their turn produce yellow 

 young — would "breed true," as is commonly said. 



Every variety, therefore, has a chance of becoming 

 a species, and every species nnist have once been a 

 variety, if tlie theory of the evolution of species from 

 pre-existing species be admitted, as it is generally 

 uow-a-days. 



it will thus be seen that the distinction between species 

 and variety is a piece of zoological snobbery, so to speak ; 

 if a bird's antecedents are all right and a likeness has 

 been handed down from father to son indefinitely, as far 

 as we can see, he belongs to a " good species : " but if 



