146 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



bird was taken ou board a sbip between the Island of Pantellaria (about 

 '20U miles from Malta) and Malta, and that it was aseerfained that the day 

 previously an American vessel had been wrecked on Pantellaria, and all 

 hands drowned. This did not occur in his ow'u experience, but he had it 

 in his notes given him by his predecessor. The bird is in very good 

 plumage, and the points of its wings are not worn, as would be the case if 

 it had been kept in close confinement. If the above is the case, and I see 

 uo reason to doubt it, it is interesting as an example of how birds occa- 

 sionally come to be included in the European list,— E. F. Becher (Malta). 



Hybrids between Blackbird and Thrush.— In a paper lately read 

 before the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society, Mr. R. M. Christy 

 commented upon such instances of hybridisation between these two species 

 as had been recorded, or had come under bis own observation. Among the 

 cases quoted, one was given on the authority of a writer in ' Loudon's 

 Magazine of Natural History,' August, 1834, who says:— "In the garden 

 of a nurseryman at Ormskirk a Throstle and a Blackbird had paired; this 

 was well known to a number of individuals. Viiyself amongst them. During 

 two successive years the birds reared their broods, which were permitted to 

 fly, and evinced in all respects the features of strongly marked hybrids." 

 In August, 1803, Count Salvadori communicated the following to 'The 

 Ibis': — "In November, 1861, I purchased in Florence a living bird, which 

 had the appearance of a Thrush, and in size, colour of the bill, legs, feet, 

 and upper parts, was quite like a Song Thrush. The lower parts were 

 almost entirely black, except the edge of each feather, which was of a light 

 colour ; round the neck it had u narrow ring of feathers of a yellowish white ; 

 on the belly were two or three white feathers, spotted with black. I believe 

 it to be a cross of the Song Thrush and Blackbird." ]\Ir. Christy referred 

 to another instance mentioned by Macgillivray. About the conclusion of 

 the winter of 1836 a male Blackbird and female Thrush fed occasionally 

 together near the house of Mr. Russell, of Moss-side. At the commence- 

 ment of spring their attachment increased, and they carried on a regular 

 course of flirtation, which eventually ended in matrimony, The pair built 

 their nest in a bush, where it was so cunningly concealed that the young 

 ones were hatched before it was discovered. In concluding, Mr. Christy 

 said that tliough some of the birds described as hybrids might be melanisms 

 of the Song Thrush or cock Blackbirds which had retained in the spring 

 following their birth large patches of the brown of immaturity, yet he 

 considered that there was sufficient evidence to justify the conclusion that 

 cases of hybridisation did sometimes occur in nature. 



Tufted Duck in Co. Kildare. — Two days after Christmas I observed 

 a pair of Tufted Ducks on the lake in Lyons demesne, County Kildare. 

 The gamekeeper says he first saw them only a short time before then. 



