Correspo?idence. 373


they see fit ! But, joking aside, I am truly glad to see you use our name of

Robin, prefixed by American. There is no reason why every laud should

not have its Robin, and ours is as dear to us under that name as your

smaller, sprightlier Redbreast is to you. However, from the standpoint at

least of scientific names, we in this country can throw no stones. In the

case of Robin : Turdus, long before I can remember, gave place to Merula r

by which name I have always known it; lately, in the twinkling of an eye,

that is replaced by the strange, uncouth Planisticus. Whether this will be

valid to-morrow morning remains with our too energetic taxouomists —

Quien sabe? perhaps it may swing back to Turdus again. Hence our

affection for the vulgar but far more stable name Robin !


I regret that the ornithologists of every nation cannot agree on some

universal system of nomenclature and specific naming, for the benefit of

those of us whose love for the bird itself and its life exceeds the desire to-

make of its name more than a convenient handle — a means to an end — not

vice versa. C. William Beebe,


Curator of Ornithology,


Neiv York Zoological Park.



BRONZE x MAGPIE MANNIKIN HYBRIDS.


Sir, — The rearing of this cross has occurred in my aviary from the

chance pairing of odd birds. The nest was so dark and deep that I do not

know how many eggs were laid, neither are there aiiy leavings of other

eggs in the nest. This may be accounted for by the fact that the young

bird reared left the nest while I was away on my holidays, and there are

several species in the aviary that soon clear away any eggs they can get at.

The parent birds now take no interest in the nest whatever.


The young bird has been out of the nest for ten days : it is a little

larger than its male parent, and is quite of a nondescript appearance, being

of a dark umber-browu above, washed with chocolate colour on the upper

back, and of a light umber-browu below, with a suspicion of fawn at the

base of the feathers. I believe this is the first time this cross has been

reared. Wesley T. Page.



COLOUR CHANGE IN FEATHERS.


Sir, — Having for many years been puzzled at the rapid change which

takes place in the Fjeld Ryper (Ptarmigan) in late autumn, from brown to

pure white, I wrote last October to a Norwegian, a man I have known for

many years, whose life is mostly spent in the woods, asking him to procure

me some Ryper in the condition of the winter change from brown to white

feathers. On the 1st of December 1906 the man wrote as follows: "I did

procure six birds for you, but the brown feathers were so loose that they all

fell off themselves, so I have sold the birds as I thought it useless to send

them." This is clear oroof of an autumn moult.



