346 TETRAONID.E. 



tions ; but this was the only bird of the kind that had been 

 observed. 



In December 1837, Mr. John Leadbeater exhibited at 

 the Zoological Society a male hybrid between the Pheasant 

 and Black Grouse. It was observed that this was the 

 third specimen which had been sent to the Society for ex- 

 hibition within a comparatively short space of time. The 

 first bird, from Cornwall, was more of a Grouse in appear- 

 ance than a Pheasant ; the second, Mr. Eyton's bird, from 

 Shropshire, was more Pheasant-like ; but the present bird 

 was decidedly intermediate, exhibiting characters belonging 

 to both. The head, neck, and breast were of a rich dark 

 maroon colour, the feathers on the breast showing the 

 darker crescentic tips ; the upper part of the tarsi were 

 covered with feathers ; the back and wings mottled black- 

 ish grey, like that of a young Black Cock after his first 

 moult, but with some indications of brown ; the feathers of 

 the tail rather short, but straight, pointed, graduated, and 

 Pheasant-like. It was remarked that this bird more closely 

 resembled the hybrid figured by White than either of the 

 specimens previously exhibited. This bird was sent to 

 Mr. Leadbeater to be preserved by order of the Duke of 

 Northumberland ; it was understood to have been killed 

 near Alnwick, and it is now by the duke^s liberality de- 

 posited in the British Museum. 



Dr. Edward Moore, in his notes on the Birds of Devon- 

 shire, published in the Magazine of Natural History for 

 the year 1837, says, that a hybrid of this kind was shot at 

 Whidey, near Plymouth, by the Rev. Mr. Morshead. A 

 male Pheasant, a female Grouse, and one young, had been 

 observed in company for some time by the keeper. Mr. 

 Morshead shot the Pheasant, and, in a few days, the young 

 hybrid ; but the Grouse escaped. The young bird bears 



