On the Hybridising of Duels. 243 



showing a greenish gloss ; the dark colour forms a stripe of 

 moderate but even width, being bordered with pale rufous 

 buff, peppered with the darker colour. These feathers give 

 the bird a somewhat unique appearance, but the pattern is 

 apparently derived from that of the Wild Duck by compressing 

 the dark colour into an even stripe along the centre of the 

 feather and the buff colour of the margins being broken up 

 with darker peppering.. The head is merely a light edition 

 of the Wild Duck, the chin being pure white and the dark 

 markings on the side of the face much fewer in number. 

 There is a trace of the white ring of the Mallard, and the 

 feathers of the chest are similar to those in the dark variety, 

 but the dark colour is restricted to a subterminal spot. The 

 remainder of the underparts are pure white with a few of the 

 flank feathers somewhat resembling those of the Wild Duck. 



Mallard — Spotbill — Pintail. 

 Second Generation. 



Cross (1) [(M ^S)^(Pc,M)]c. [(M <^ S) ^ (P ^> M)]. 

 Cross (2) [(M <-= S) ^ (P «^ M)] ^ [(M =-? S) ^ M]. 



I have tried Cross (1) for four seasons, both the birds being 

 of the dark variety, but have never succeeded in hatching any 

 young from them, although birds of the dark variety when 

 paired up with other crosses have proved perfectly fertile. 



With birds of the light variety, however, I have experienced 

 no difficulty in raising birds of Cross (1), and the results have 

 always all been referable to the light variety. 



In Cross (2) the $ parent belonged to the dark variety, 

 and both light and dark forms appeared in the progeny. 



Cross (1). Dark variety. None hatched. 



Cross (2). Dark variety. The Drake in full plumage in 

 nowise differs from the Drake of the first generation, except 

 that the bill is that of a pure Spotbill. 



Eclipse plumage : unknown. 



Duck : unknown. 



Light Variety. 



The Drakes resulting from Crosses (1) and (2) (there is 



