NOTES AND QUERIES. 113 



or less blue upon the upper tail-coverts and the tail, and I am unable to 

 agree with Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., who, in the 'Transactions of the 

 Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists' Society ' (vol. iv. pt. ii. p. 155), refers to 

 some examples of female Kestrels showing more or less blue colouring, and 

 treats them as instances of the females assuming male dress. T think the 

 bird mentioned by the Rev. H. T. Frere in 'The Zoologist' for 1886 

 (p 180), and described as "a young male in immature (female) plumage, 

 with the exception of a few blue feathers on the upper tail-coverts," was 

 really (unless actually sexed) the female bird of the pair, a very old bird 

 in the adult bluish dress, and not a second male paired to the female 

 belonging to the nest in two hours, as he suggests. With regard to 

 Mr. Cecil Smith's remarks, in ' The Zoologist' for 1886 (p 1 10), I would 

 submit that his No. 1 is (unless actually sexed) not a male at all, but an 

 example of the fully adult female. In addition to the evidence of the 

 colour and markings of the tail, Mr. Smith's description of the tail-coverts 

 being "distinctly barred with dark brown," and " the feathers on the breast 

 and rest of the upper parts" having " broad patches of dark brown towards 

 the tip, and also dark brown bars nearer the body," all tend to this 

 conclusion. — F. C. Aplin (Bloxham, near Banbury, Oxon). 



Supposed assumption of Male Plumage by a Female Kestrel. — 



If the Kestrel mentioned by the Rev. H. T. Frere (Zool. 1886, p. 180) was 

 not dissected, and if it was judged to be a male because it had blue feathers 

 on the upper tail-coverts, this affords no proof that such was the case ; for 

 it is by no means uncommon for the female Kestrel to assume this colour. 

 The specimen No. 8 described by Mr. Cecil Smith {torn. cit. p. 112) is a 

 case in point. — J. H. Gurney, Jun. (Northrepps, Norwich). 



Hybrid Finches. — At the recent Crystal Palace Cage-Bird Show 

 (Feb. 12th to 17th) an unusual number of hybrid finches were exhibited. 

 Of course the usual mules between Goldfinch, Linnet, and Canary were 

 common enough, but besides these there were fifteen Siskin-Canary, one 

 Redpoll-Canary, and one Bullfinch-Canary mules, the last two being very 

 rarely seen. There were also the following hybrids between other finches, 

 viz.: — one Greenfinch-Linnet, one Greenfinch-Goldfinch, one Linnet-Bull- 

 finch, one Linnet-Goldfinch, five Goldfinch-Bullfinch, one Redpoll-Bullfinch, 

 and one Redpoll-Linnet. In this list the male bird is in every case placed 

 first. Tlie most beautiful of these hybrids was the Goldfinch-Bullfinch, 

 the colours and the shape of the bill of each species being completely 

 blended. It is apparently not difficult to obtain such hybrids, for some 

 have been exhibited at every show for many years. To my mind the most 

 remarkable bird at the recent show was the Redpoll-Bullfinch, the disparity 

 in size of the parents being so great. I do not doubt that all the above 

 named were bred as described, but there was a bird shown as a Siskin- 



ZOOLOGIST. — MARCH, 1887. K 



