Correspondence 199 



LW'e are greatly obliged to tlie Editor of Cage Birds for kindly supply- 

 ing till- aliove and following information in resiionse to Dr. I lopkinson's 

 4Uory. antl tiMulcr our best thanks. — lidilor, Uikd NotksJ. 



From Cage Hlrds io-iii-1917. 

 " At a scientific meeting;' of the Zooloi^ical Society, held 

 on l""ebrnarv 6lh, Mr. Gerrard exhibited, on behalf of Mr. (i. 

 Crabb, a mounted specimen of a Hybrid between a Song" Thrush 

 and a Blackbird. The bird is one of those bred last summer by 

 Mr. Anderson, of Darvel, from parents which he said had also 

 reared a nest of three in the previous season. 



This year the young" birds showed their Blackl)ird paren- 

 tage more distinctly than those of last year, and there could be 

 no doubt of their being as claimed, namely. Hybrids between a 

 Song Thrush and a Blackbird. This one arrived home dead 

 after a show, and Mr. Anderson kindly sent us the body with a 

 view to its being preserved and added to the collection of prize 

 winners belonging to the London and Provincial ().S. 



The collection of stuffed specimens to which this bird 

 forms so interesting an addition will shortly be deposited at the 

 People's Palace, Mile End Road, where it will be on view. The 

 Palace is within a short walk from Stepney Green station, and 

 the motor omnibuses from the Mansion House pass the doors. 

 The photo reproduced is by Mr. D. Seth-Smith, of the 

 Zoological Society, who sent a copy also to " The Field," w^ith 

 a letter of which the following is an extract. The note of the 

 Editor of " The Field " is also appended: — 



"The bird exhibited, and of which a photograph is here- 

 with reproduced, proved by dissection to be a male. Both 

 in plumage and measurements it corresponds more closely 

 with the Song Thrush than the Blackbird, and it might, in 

 fact, be mistaken for a dark variety of the former species. 

 Its general colour, however, is of a much darker hue than 

 that of the Thrush. The ear-coverts are very dark brown, 

 and the buffish-white eye stripe characteristic of that bird is 

 absent. The chin, which in the Thrush is generally devoid of 

 spots, is in this bird spotted. The throat, breast, and fianks 

 are spotted like those of a Thrush, but on a darker ground. 

 The upper mandible is black, the lower blackish at the tip 

 and yellow at the base, and the leg's and feet are intermediate 

 in colour between those of the two parent species. 



