Characters of Hybrids 



a modified form in the hybrid ; for instance, in 

 that between the blackcock (Tetrao tetrioc] and 

 the capercailzie (7". urogallus], the forked tail of 

 the former reappears to a small extent in the 

 hybrid. 



Very interesting are those cases in which the 

 hybrid resembles neither parent, but tends to be 

 like an altogether distinct species, or to have a 

 character of its own. Thus the hybrids between 

 the pied European and chestnut African shel- 

 drakes ( Tadorna cornuta and Casarca cana), now 

 in the British Museum, bear a distinct resem- 

 blance to the grey Australian sheldrake (C. tador- 

 noides]. In pheasants, also, the crosses between 

 the common and gold, common and Amherst, 

 gold and Japanese, and gold and Reeves' 

 pheasants, widely different as all these birds 

 are in colouration, are remarkably alike, being 

 all chestnut-coloured birds with buff median tail- 

 feathers. These may be seen in the British 

 Museum. This phenomenon, together with the 

 above-noted disappearance of specialised features 

 in hybrids, is possibly comparable to the 

 "reversion" observed when widely - distinct 

 domestic breeds are crossed, and so may give 

 us an idea of the appearance of the ancestors of 

 the groups of species concerned. 



In the few cases wherein several generations 

 of hybrids have been bred inter se, there seems 

 to have been no reversion to the original pure 

 i 129 



