WILD HYBRIDS 195 



show to be a female, is interesting from the fact that it appears to possess affinities with 

 the related Crossoptilon harmani from Eastern Tibet. Twenty-one tail-feathers are 

 present, including the central feathers. . . . The lateral rectrices are milky white for 

 more than three-quarters of their length. A narrow band of brownish-white upon the 

 sides of the occiput and crown could hardly be more distinct. The dirty white of 

 the mid-jugular region reaches down to the upper breast. Otherwise the description 

 of auritum agrees with this bird." And another specimen which he describes, from the 

 Tsin-ling Mountains, varies in still other particulars from auritum. 



As we have seen, the species harmani was based upon a single individual. At least 

 a half-dozen are now to be found in various museums. To take but one from among 

 a number, let us consider a specimen of Crossoptilon in the Musde d'Histoire Naturelle 

 of the Jardin des Plantes. The label reads, ''Crossoptilon auritum, van April, 1890. 

 Tioungen, Tibet. Prince H. d'Orleans. No. 626D." It is harmani 2iS> far as the white 

 extension down the fore neck and the great breadth of the occipital band is concerned, 

 but the ventral patch of white covers the entire belly from the breast backward. The 

 tail-feathers are all present and number twenty, and on six or seven pairs there is a great 

 deal of irregular, asymmetrical white. 



If we recognize Elwes's individual as harmani, we must give this white-tailed, 

 white-bellied specimen another name. Four others which I have examined in various 

 museums deserve individual recognition on such characterization. The asymmetrical 

 character of the markings, together with their constant variation in individuals, em- 

 phasizes the error of any such course, whether we would prefer to consider them species, 

 sub-species or local races. 



Recently several additional specimens showing corresponding variations have been 

 gathered by Captain Bailey in the Mishmi-Abor Hills in the valley of the Tsangpo 

 River, at an elevation of from ten to twelve thousand feet, where the birds were said 

 to have been breeding. An adult cock has the upper parts dark ashy-grey, almost black 

 on the neck instead of blue-grey, while the rump is very pale. There is a white nuchal 

 band, and the white of the chin extends in a narrow line down the throat and fore-neck. 

 The sides of the neck and upper breast are very deep glossy ashy-grey, gradually 

 changing to paler ashy-grey on the flanks and breast, and to white on the middle of the 

 abdomen. There is no white on the tail-feathers. 



A chick from the same locality is supposedly of the same uncertain strain, as it 

 exhibits characters both of typical auritum and of so-called harmani. The white nuchal 

 band of harmani is present, but the white does not extend down the throat, being in this 

 respect like auritum. This bird is thought to be about two weeks of age. The upper 

 plumage is dull black, changing to dark ashy-grey on the rump and upper tail-coverts. 

 The shoulders and the wings are vermiculated with reddish bars, and the wing-coverts 

 have broad, reddish fulvous shaft-streaks. The ear-tufts are partially developed. 



The upper breast and flanks have the feathers black with the centres and terminal 

 fulvous. The lower breast and abdomen are dirty white, the vent and under tail-coverts 

 dull ashy-grey with white tips, and the tail-feathers are blue-black, slightly glossed with 

 blue. Iris, brown ; bill, horn-coloured, lighter below ; legs reddish-brown. This chick 

 was killed on July i6th. 



It is doubtless the interbreeding of generation after generation of the two distinct 



