X34- • Correspondence.


CORRESPONDENCE, NOTES, ETC.



THE LIGHT MULE PROBLEM.


Sir, — There is one aspect of this puzzle which I do not think

has received adequate attention — that is, that in crosses with the Canary

the colour of the latter bird is recessive, as students of the Mendelian

theory of heredity say, of course we do get clear and pied mules, but, they

are alas ! exceptions. Normally, Canary mules, even when dark, follow the

colour of their wild parent. Pair a Canary with a Linnet, you get a brown

mule; with a Greenfinch or a Siskin, a green one; with a Goldfinch, the

prevailing colour of the result is again brown, not green.


Lest it should be imagined that this is due to the fact of the Canary

being a domesticated bird, I would quote some other instances. If you

pair a Pigeon and a Barbary Dove — both domesticated — the colour will be a

Pigeon's. If you pair a Guinea-fowl and a common fowl, both domesticated

again, the result will be a fowl's plumage, not the Guinea-fowl's, in spite of

the distinct character of the latter.


Even by crossing a wild bird with a tame one 3'ou may constantly get

the latter's colour prevailing; thus, the hybrids between Fowl and

Pheasant, as anyone may see in those exhibited in the Natural History

Museum, resemble in colour the domesticated parent much more than the

wild one, and vary similarly.


In trying to breed lighter mules, therefore, we are facing a difficulty

inherent in the very nature of the Canary — it is a bird with little power of

stamping its colouration in a cross.


It may be said that this does not help us much, but it is something to

clearly see where the difficulty lies. What we want is a prepotent Canary,

one which is exceptional in having the power of stamping its colour; and a

Canary that produced even dark mules, if those mules were green, would be

worth looking after, just like one which produced light mules.


But failing a prepotent Canary, there may be such a thing as a

recessive Goldfinch — an individual which has small power of colour-trans-

mission. The virtues of such a bird could of course, only be realized by

breeding light or green mules from him, but if obtained, he should be

preserved, and an attempt made to breed more from him, as Goldfinches

have repeatedly bred, not only in aviaries, but in Canary breeding cages.


F. Finn.



THE TREATMENT OF THE SHAMAH.


Sir, — Will some of our readers kindly say the different ways of


feeding Shamahs. I feed mine on Century Food grade 3, mixed with a hard


boiled egg, a potato, and the best ants' cocoons soaked and squeezed dry,


and added ; he gets a pot full of this and most of the ants' eggs, and then



