140 Zoological Society : — > 



exhibited, at a meeting of this Society, three ducks, tvhich he con- 

 sidered to form a new species, and accordingly described them by 

 the name of Fuligula ferinoides * ; one of them having been pre- 

 viously, but erroneously, figured by the late Mr. Yarrell in his 

 •British Birds' as an example of the American Scaup {Fuligula 

 affinis). At the time, I believe that some doubts were expressed as 

 to the validity of this species ; and these doubts appear to me to be 

 well-grounded. In the ' Naumannia ' for 1851 (pp. 12-15), Herr 

 Biideker described some birds killed near Rotterdam as forming 

 a new species under the name of Fuligula Homeyeri ; and in that 

 Journal for the next year two of these examples were figured, which 

 were subsequently exhibited by Mr. Gould at the meeting of this 

 Society, March 28, 1854, and by him identified with Mr. Bartlett's 

 F. ferinoides f . 



In the * Revue et Magazin de Zoologie ' for March 1853 (p. 117), 

 M. Jaubert, under the name of Anas intermedia, gave an account 

 and description of four male hybrids, as he considered them, between 

 Fuligula ferina and F. nyroca. 



Now, both F. ferinoides and F. Homeyeri I believe to have been 

 produced from the cross which M. Jaubert has suggested ; and my 

 belief is strengthened by the perfect analogy shown by the present 

 hybrid from the New World. The subject has been much discussed 

 upon the Continent ; and those who support the view of the validity 

 of the supposed species have relied principally on the assertion that 

 birds in a state of nature do not hybridize, — an assertion which I 

 venture to believe is not according to facts. 



The specimens which I next have the honour to exhibit to you 

 are, in my opinion, of no common interest. The statement has been 

 again and again reiterated, with some slight variation of language, 

 but always to the same effect, that hybrids between two distinct spe- 

 cies are inter se infertile. I presume that no naturalist, whatever 

 may be the views he takes of species, will have any hesitation in de- 

 claring that the Wild Duck (Anas boschas), with all its domesticated 

 varieties, and the Pintail {t)afda acuta), are perfectly distinct spe- 

 cies. It is well known that they will readily, in a state of confine- 

 ment, breed together. In the winter of 1855-G I received from a 

 friend a pair of birds (male and female) which were bred by him from 

 a Pintail Drake and a farm-yard Dvick. These I turned down on 

 my pond. It is fair to say that on this pond were also examples of 

 both species. I watched them very closely ; the male hybrid — as 

 hybrids constantly do — at once reigned supreme over its denizens. 

 As spring approached he became a most devoted and at the same 

 time jealous husband : not a drake of any description would he allow 

 to come near his mate ; and in the battles in which he engaged in de- 

 fence of his prerogative, he invariably came off victorious. I was never 

 fortunate enough to obtain ocular proof of the consummation of his 

 nuptials, but I most firmly believe that the male of no other species 

 on the water ever had access to his wife. My brother, who was as 



* Proc. Zool. Soc. 1847, p. 48. t Ibid. 1854, p. 95. 



