WHITE BLACKBIRDS AND OTHER FREAKS. 



IT is the hope of seeing something new and strange that keeps 

 the naturalist always enthusiastic : there is always a chance of 

 seeing white blackbirds, and he lives in expectation of the rare 

 chance falling to him. 



White blackbirds are not of uncommon occurrence. I have 

 seen the cowbird, the rusty grackle, the Brewer's blackbird, 

 and the red- winged blackbird besides crows and meadow- 

 larks, which are relatives of the blackbird's either partially 

 or entirely white. Of course these were mounted birds, for so 

 much good luck would not fall to any one person in the field. 

 It is an accident of nature, but by no means a rare one, that 

 every now and then a bird will be hatched without the usual 

 amount of coloring matter in, its feathers, in which case it will 

 be either wholly or partly white. These accidents are called 

 albinos, or partial albinos, as the case may be. When the bird 

 is an entire albino, it usually has pink eyes. Similar accidents 

 occur among animals with the same accompaniment of pink 

 eyes if the albinism is entire. The white of such birds is seldom 

 pure white, oftener a yellowish, or grayish, or dirty white, and 

 oftener only partial, being confined to a few wing or tail feathers, 

 or a patch of grayish white about the head and neck. Among 

 English sparrows it is not unusual to see a bird thus marked 

 Take note of such birds to see whether you ever meet them 

 again ; they are curious, but have no other interest. 



It is very odd that albinism appears to run in some genera 

 of birds more than it does in others. White crows are not un- 



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