324 Dr. E. Lonnberg on a remarkable Capercaillie. 



aberration, Avith regard to plumage, shape of tail-featbers, &c, 

 as that described above, should have escaped the keen eyes 

 of these ornithologists, and if they had seen it they would 

 have mentioned it. The "small" Capercaillies mentioned 

 in such literature are not, therefore, identical with my 

 variety, but are only dwarfish specimens of the common 

 Capercaillie. 



The fact that, so far as we know, this bird is not geo- 

 graphically isolated from the typical Capercaillie militates 

 against a theory explaining it as a geographical subspecies. 

 Nor does it represent the last remnant of a disappearing or 

 vanishing race, for it is only in the last few years that it has 

 been found in a country the avifauna of which has been well 

 studied by ornithologists. It is something new and it is, as 

 already mentioned, more than an individual aberration. It 

 is evident that the number of specimens — eight in all — is too 

 large to have been the produce of one brood *. There is also 

 direct proof that Capercaillies of this peculiar kind have 

 been hatched and reared more than once, because my 

 specimen killed in the year 1897 is a distinctly older bird 

 than that killed in 1900. There are, then, but two explana- 

 tions possible: either (1) these aberrant Capercaillies have 

 been hatched repeatedly out of eggs laid by common Caper- 

 caillies, or (2) the specimens once reared have been able to 

 propagate, and in that event the offspring has inherited the 

 peculiarities of their parents. Thus much at least appears to 

 be certain, that a variety of a bird has originated suddenly, 

 with a number of specimens all alike and all differing 

 strikingly from the original type. This appears to be a good 

 example of "sport," or (to use a word which in Botany, 

 through the interesting investigations of Hugo de Vries, has 

 become very well known) "mutation." These mutations 

 receive distinguishing names in Botany, and I have thought 

 it advisable to follow the custom in this case and to propose 

 as a third name for this Capercaillie the term " lugens," in 

 consequence of its sombre colours as compared with the 



* The probable cause why, as yet, only male specimens have become 

 known has been discussed above. 



