Vol. xxvii.] 54 



Mr. J. Gr. MiLLAis exhibited an adult male Black Grouse 

 (Lyrurus tetrix, Linn.) which had partially assumed the 

 plumage of the female. It had been shot by Mr. F. Stobart 

 at Glen Trool, Wigtonshire, on the 20th of September, 1910, 

 and was now the property of Lord William Percy, by whom 

 it had been kindly lent for exhibition. Mr. Millais believed 

 this to be the first record of a British-killed example of 

 this rare abnormality. The only other examples of a similar 

 kind had been procured in Russia, and specimens might be 

 seen both in the British Museum and in the collection of 

 Mr. Walter Rothschild. The sex of the bird exhibited had 

 been carefully ascertained by Mr. George Duncan, of New- 

 castle, who reported that the testes appeared to be perfectly 

 healthy and similar to those of a normal male. 



Mr. Millais also exhibited a specimen of an adult male 

 hybrid Pheasant (Fhasianus colchicus x P. torquatus) 

 partially assuming the plumage of the female. The bird 

 had been shot by himself at Alnwick Castle, Northumber- 

 land, on the 23rd of November, 1910. He had previously 

 recorded two examples of this rare variety — one obtained in 

 Dublin in 1890 and at present in the Eton College Museum, 

 and the other in the collection of Mr. Walter Rothschild. 

 He would not have noticed the peculiarities in the plumage 

 of this bird had it not fallen at his feet. This variety might 

 not be so rare as the records of its occurrence led one to 

 suppose. The sex of the specimen exhibited had been care- 

 fully ascertained by Messrs. Hoad and Taylor, who found it 

 to be a normal male. 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant remarked that Dr. H. Hammond- 

 Smith had obtained three male Pheasants assuming female 

 plumage, which were even more remarkable than the one 

 shown by Mr. Millais. It was Dr. Hammond-Smith's 

 intention to describe and exhibit these birds at some forth- 

 coming meeting of the Zoological Society *. 



* [A full description of the hybrids in question will be found in the 

 'Field' of the 25th Februarj^, loil.— Ed.] 



