THE BLACK GROUSE. 41 



the following communication to the Natural History Society of Belfast 

 in December 1836, and at the same time exhibited the specimen 

 of which it treats. The article was afterwards published in the 

 Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. i. (1837). 



" Having lately heard that a hybrid bird, bred between the common 

 pheasant and black grouse, had been shot in Wigtonshire, and was 

 preserved for Sir Andrew Agnew, Bart., M.P., I proposed a few queries 

 respecting it through the medium of our mutual friend, Captain 

 Fayrer, E.N. "Sir Andrew, on receiving these, considered that an 

 examination of the specimen would prove more satisfactory than a 

 mere reply, and with the kindest consideration sent it from Lochnaw 

 Castle for my inspection. He stated that the bird was shot in the 

 autumn of 1835 in a wild state at Lochnaw, where it had previously 

 been seen several times on the wing. Pheasants and black grouse are 

 numerous in the surrounding plantations ; but this is the only hybrid 

 that has been observed. 



" In four instances only am I aware of similar hybrids being recorded.* 

 The first is mentioned in White's History of Selborne as a curious bird, 

 shot in a coppice at the Holt, and sent by Lord Stawell for his inspec- 

 tion. Its parentage was not correctly assigned by Mr. White, nor 

 even by several later authors who have endeavoured from his description 

 to determine it. In a note, however, to p. 344 of a late edition of that 

 work (8vo ed. 1833), the Hon. and Eev. William Herbert mentions 

 having seen the specimen in the collection of the Earl of Egremont at 

 Petworth, and speaks decisively to its true parentage. The second 

 specimen was exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don, on the 24th of June 1834, by Joseph Sabine, Esq., who stated 

 that it was bred in Cornwall. f The third, shot near Merrington in 

 Shropshire, was announced to the same Society, on the 12th of May 

 1835, by T. C. Eyton, Esq., by whom it was described in some 

 detail.^ In the preface to a subsequent publication (' History of 

 the Barer Species of British Birds,') Mr. Eyton informs us that the 

 brood to which this bird belonged consisted of five individuals, 

 all of which were killed, though two only are preserved. In 

 the same work (p. 101), the fourth and last I know to be on 



* Otter birds of a similar kind, subsequently recorded, will be found noticed in 

 Yarrell's British Birds. Note of 1849. 



f Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834, p. 52. \ Ibid. 1835. p. 62. 



