MRS. R. HAIG THOMAS OX 



Mr. Bonhote further stated that among Sand-Rats of the genus 

 Meriones, a considerable number of which he had bred this year, 

 the period of gestation was at least 17 days, and the young, which 

 were born quite naked, looked after themselves in about three 

 weeks, five being the usual number in a litter. 



Mr. J. Lewis Bonhote, M.A., P.L.S., F.Z.S., exhibited a pair of 

 hybrids between the Bramble-Finch {Fringilla montifriiigilla) and 

 the Chaffinch {Fringilla coelebs). This cross had been bred for the 

 first time in 1907 by a lady in Kent, who had since bred several 

 every year. 



Mr. Allen Silver, a well-known fancier, first called Mr. Bonhote's 

 attention to these birds. He wrote : — " The young in nestling 

 plumage chiefly resemble a nestling Chaffinch, but show traces of 

 the white rump. 



" Males from the cross in which the Brambling was the cock 

 are in every case more brilliant and richer in tone, and exhibit a 

 marked Bramble-Finch form of head, more so than the cross in 

 which the Chaffinch was the male parent. The heads of the 

 males in this latter cross (Chaffinch J and Brambling $ ) are less 

 speckled and almost even in tone of colour, showing few signs of 

 the dark bases to the feathers on the head and having more of a 

 Chaffinch shape." 



The cock exhibited resembled a, Bra-mble-Finch on the head, 

 rump, tail, and vent, but on the mantle and breast the colour 

 showed a mixture of the two species; the tail also shoAved more 

 white than was usually found in a pure-bred Bramble-Finch. 



A peculiar feature of this bird was a slight " peak " crest, which 

 had not appeai^ed in any of the other specimens. It seemed to be 

 caused by the long feathers of the nape (a Bramble-Finch feature) 

 meeting the long feathers of the crown (a Chaffinch feature). 



One other male of this cross that Mr. Bonhote had seen closely 

 resembled a hen Bramble- Finch. 



The hen bird exhibited showed the Chaffinch blood more 

 clearly, her only Bramble-Finch features being the two parallel 

 stripes on the nape, the partially white rump, traces of j^ellow on 

 the wing-bars, and a more yellowish tint on the breast. The 

 fertility of the hybrids had not yet been tested. 



Mrs. R. Haig Thomas, F.Z.S., exhibited a series of skins illus- 

 trating an experiment in Pheasant - breeding, and gave the 

 following account of the production of Thaumalea ohscm-a in the 

 F, generation from a cross between Thaumalea amhersti $ and 

 T. picta S '■ — 



" The skins of the birds used in this experiitient are exhibited 

 together with their pedigree (see page 7). An Amherst cock is 

 placed with these skins to show the plumage, but the bird' took 

 no part in the experiment. 



