Hybridity in Animals. 207 
Mr. Charles Waterton, the celebrated traveller, has published 
a.very interesting account of a hybrid between the female Cana- 
da goose, and the wild Bernacle gander (Anser bernicla).* _. This 
fact occured at Mr. Waterton’s seat at Walton Hall, England. 
“These hybrids,” he observes, ‘‘are elegantly shaped, but: are 
not so large as the mother, nor so small as the father, their plum- 
age partaking in color with that of both parents. ‘The white on 
their front is only half as much as is seen on the front of the 
er, while their necks are brown in lieu of the coal-black color 
which appears on the neck of the goose. ‘Their breasts, too, are 
of a dusky color, while the breast of the bernacle is black, a 
that of the Canadian, white; and throughout the whole of the 
remaining plumage there may be seen an altered and modified 
coloring, not to be traced in that of the parent birds.” 
t remains to notice some instances of hybridity among differ- 
ent species of ducks; thus a cross has been obtained between the. 
Anas fuligula of Europe, and the European teal (Anas querque- 
dula).t “Selby mentions a male wigeon (Mareca penelope) 
breeding with a female pintail (Anas acuta), notwithstanding the 
fact of females of his own species being kept on the same piece 
of water.” Other crosses have taken place between the pintail 
and the common mallard (Anas boschas) ;$ and in the wild state, 
between the latter and the dusky duck (A. obscura), of which, 
my friend Mr. William Gambel, has seen a specimen in the pos- 
session of Mr. J. G. Bell, of New York, near which city it was 
shot. A much more frequent hybrid occurs between the mallard 
and muscovy duck (A. moschata). 
Mr. William R. Clapp informs me that he saw, at Rye Pond, 
has been obtained between the throstle (Turdus musicus) and 
the black-bird (Merula vulgaris) of Great Britain.1 
* Bernicla brenta. 
! Essays on Nat. History, p. 118, 2d edition. het 
¢ Prichard. Researches, é&c., i, p. 140, from M. Geoffroy St. Hilaire. 
§ Loudon’s Magazine, ix, p. 615. Haris 
| Manuel d’ Ornithologie, i, p. 254. { Loudon’s Magazine, ix, p. 615. 
