200 Corrcs(^undcncc 



1 am not sure whether tliere^are any properly authenti- 

 cated records of wild Hybrids of these two species, but it is 

 evident from the appearance of this captive bird that such 

 Hybrids mii2:ht be easily overlooked; that is, if the male were 

 the Song" Thrush. It would l)e interesting to see the reverse 

 cross, i.e., from a male Black])ird and female Song Thrush, 

 which might be much more like the Blackbird." 



D. Seth-Smith. 



[The interbreeding of Thrush and Blackl)ird has been 

 frequently reported, although not always on such good 

 evidence as in the present case. The earliest of such records 

 as we have noted may be found in Loudon's Magas'uic of 

 Natural History for 1834. Macgillivray has alluded to it in 

 his article on the Thrush, and Newton in the first volume of 

 Yarrell's British Birds (page 282) states that the Blackbird 

 will breed with the Song Thrush, and in one case on record 

 (i.e., Loudon's) Hybrids were produced from sucJi a union 

 in two successive years. In Harting's Handbook of British 

 Birds (second edition, p. 39), after quoting Loudon and 

 Macgillivray, several references are given to such Hybrids 

 reported in the Zoologist (1883, p. 123; 1884, p. 140; 1892, p. 

 270; 1895, p. 22,2,), and Transactions of the Norfolk Naturalist 

 Society (vol. iii, p. 588]." 



From Cage Birds i2-vi-i9i5. 



"As promised in my letter in Cage Birds of May 29. 1 

 will now try to give an account of my experience with my birds, 

 and especially with the breeding and rearing of the Song 

 Thrush-Blackbird Hybrids. 



It is now about nine years since I began keeping cage 

 birds, and while I am by no means an authority, perhaps my 

 experience may encourage others in the Fancy. I have been 

 fairly successful in my attempts, though I have never done much 

 at show^ing, unless at our club shows, where I have been able 

 to secure some points at times. 



Aly first attempt was with two pairs of conunon Canaries, 

 from which I had two or three young. This was not much, yet 

 even such a small success encouraged me. and gradually my 



