38 SKETCHES OF BIRD LIFE. 



case hybrids were produced from such a union in 

 two successive years. 



Pied and even white Blackbirds are occasionally 

 met with ; and on two occasions, in different locali- 

 ties, we have seen a pure albino specimen of this 

 bird. This abnormal coloration is doubtless 

 dependent, in a great measure, if not entirely, to 

 the condition of health in which the individual 

 thus affected happens to be ; and it has been 

 observed that the variation is not always per- 

 manent, for a pied bird in the course of a fresh 

 moult frequently reassumes its normal colouring. 



