31 

 ON HYBRIDS. 



(Reprinted from " The Field" Newspaper, Feb. 20th, 1864.) 



L* the notes from Aldeburgh two ducks are mentioned as hay- 

 ing been killed, which the writer calls ''Cross-bred "Wild Ducks," 

 and says they seem to partake of the markings of the Sheldrake 

 and Common Duck and Mallard ; but he does not give a sufficient 

 description to enable any one to form an opinion as to what the 

 birds really may be, and it certainly is worth while ascertaining 

 what they are. The fact of two hybrids being together, parti- 

 cularly if they are of the cross the writer supposes, suggests the 

 probability of their having escaped from captivity, the habits of 

 the two species being in the wild state so different, and no in- 

 stances of a similar hybrid have been observed that I am ac- 

 quainted with. As uncertainty exists as to what should be called 

 hybrids, if crosses between varieties are, as well as crosses be- 

 tween what are at present considered well-defined species, some 

 distinguishing name is required to mark a difference which ap- 

 pears to be considerable and definite. As a general rule, in a 

 state of nature either one or the other seldom occurs. Many per- 

 sons fancy there is as little difference between the Pintail and 

 Wigeon, or Gadwall, as there is between a small Decoy Duck, 

 a what is called a Buenos Ayres Duck, or an Aylesbury, or any 

 other domesticated variety of Anas boschas. What difference 

 there is, is of a different kind altogether, and consequently, the 

 crosses between the former class and those between the latter 

 are also totally different ; the former cases occur in the wild and 

 natural state, the latter cannot, as these varieties have undoubtedly 

 originated through domestication only. From the very few hy- 

 brids I have seen killed in a wild or natural state, any one pos- 

 sessing a knowledge of the species may at once detect the parents 

 from which they descended ; but we have no examples that I 

 have ever seen where the two species became again more mixed 

 and less apparent ; and I think it questionable if such an instance 

 in the wild or natural state ever existed. Hybrids amongst 

 birds in the really wild and natural state, appear to occur in a 



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