l6o feLLiOT on Hybrtdtsfti. f April 



very conspicuous white of the upper mandible, which he does not 

 even hint at, is discernible a gun-shot away. 



I might also point to a modern work in which the bill of the 

 deglatidi female is painted blue; that of female perspicillata^ 

 sea-green ; the eyes of both, yellow ; and where in the text the 

 eyes of the de£-/aud/ female are still "yellow," and those of fe- 

 male pers/>icz7/a^a "yellowish-white." How much prettier and 

 more appropriate for the sex, this blue, green, and yellowish, than 

 the dusky hues used by nature. 



It is a pity, perhaps, ever to call attention in print to these 

 mistakes, for if in some far off future the theory of evolution is as 

 fascinating as it is today, what interesting changes might be shown 

 amonsf the Scoters. 



HYBRIDISM, AND A DESCRIPTION OF A HYBRID 



BETWEEN ANAS BOSCHAS AND ANAS 



AMERICANA. 



BY D. G. ELLIOT. 



The occurrence of hybridism among birds in a state of 

 nature in certain groups is not infrequent, but it is generally be- 

 lieved that the individual hybrids are infertile, if not in the first 

 certainly in the second generation. If this were not so, the evi- 

 dences of the existence of these crosses would be exhibited in 

 specimens killed, more often than has been the case up to the 

 present time. Of course it will be readily understood th;it the 

 probability of the continuance of the peculiarities shown by 

 these hybrids under the most favorable circumstances, and allow- 

 ing that thev were fertile beyond the second generation, is not 

 great, for they would be extinguished by interbreeding with pure- 

 blooded birds in a comparatively brief period of time; otherwise 

 in those families whose members migrate on the same lines of 

 travel, and associate more or less together, there would exist the 

 possibility of a mongrel race supplanting a pure species, and 

 our scientific classification would be thrown into considerable 



