348



Dr. A. G. Butler,



crescentic bars, by the gradual widening and eventual union

of which, spots of the white ground-colour were formed: in a

partial reversion to a common ancestral type one might reason¬

ably expect this ancient feature to reappear, and thus the more

or less crescentic character of the markings in this hybrid may

be explained ; whereas, if all hybrids were perfect combinations

of the two parents, the sides in this bird should have been brown

spotted with white.


In the Bicheno x Zebra-finch hybrid (See “ Foreign Bird-

Keeping” part I. page 49) we again get crescentic markings on

the sides of the body, while in the Parson-finch x Bengalee

(“ Foreign Bird-Keeping” part I. p. 46) we see how the fusion of

short parallel black bars may have gradually developed into the

complete black gorget of some of the Grass-finches, while in

others like the Zebra- and Pectoral-finches, in which they have

only been continued transversely, we find a tolerably regularly

barred breast.


But there is another point to which I must call attention

in the marking of the recently imported hybrid : —whereas the

lateral markings on the hind-breast are purely crescentic in

character, those flanking the abdomen more nearly resemble

those of Amadina erythrocephala and its evident relatives the

Spice-finches— Munia punctulata and allies : we may reasonably

conclude that, at the period when the common ancestor of the

Diamond- and Zebra-finches existed, it would have been more

hopelessly impossible than it is now to distinguish between

Grass-finches and Mannikins. Although, as I pointed out in my

“ Foreign Finches in Captivity ” it is convenient now to make an

arbitrary division between the two for show-purposes, there is

much in common, as regards pattern, between such apparently

distinct birds as Poephila gouldice and Munia castaneithorax ,

while the species of Amadina have quite as much right to be

regarded as Mannikins, as they have to be retained among the

more typical Grassfinches.


And there is yet another point of interest in these cres¬

centic and otherwise linear markings, inasmuch as they being

(as is well-known) the first steps towards the production of the

conspicuous spots and ocelli which adorn many of the more



