1902.] F. Finn — Hybrids between the Guinea-fowl and Common fowL 91 



colouration of the bill and quills ; and another which approaches the 

 American form in the colouration of the bill only. It is, of course, just 

 conceivable that a specimen of P. americanus strayed at one time to 

 Mauritius and interbred with the local birds; but the distribution of the 

 form renders this unlikely, and I should be rather inclined to put down 

 the peculiarities of these birds to simple variation. 



VII. — On hybrids between the Guinea-fowl and Common fowl. — By 

 F. Finn, B.A., F.Z.S., Deputy Superintendent of the Indian Museum. 



[ Keceived March 26th j Read April 2nd, 1902. ] 



A good accouut of this cross, which is not by any means common, 

 has been given by Dr. Juan Vilaro, in the Bulletin of the American 

 Museum of N'atural History, Vol. IX. (1897), p. 225. 



The hybrid, as represented in the plates accompanying Dr. Vilaro's 

 papeis has a very characteristic appearance, its general form and 

 carriage being intermediate between the Fowl and Guinea-fowl, and 

 its head devoid of the comb and gular wattles of the one and rictal 

 wattles and casque of .the other. I was thus easily enabled to recognize 

 as Guinea-fowl hybrids three curious fowls received by the Calcutta 

 Zoological Garden from Mr. A. T. Blewitt, of Kalka, early in 1899. 



They had been caught in a wild state, bat this is not surprising 

 as the tame-bred hybrid between the domestic Muscovy Duck and 

 Common Duck is known to become feral at times. 



These birds all resembled Common fowls in colour, the largest 

 being splashed with white and red-brown, and the other two (one of 

 which is figured on Plate VI) being red-brown with black necks and 

 fine black pencilling on many of the feathers. The characteristic 

 spotting of the Guinea-fowl was altogether absent. All had bare flesh- 

 coloured faces, and a pendulous dewlap, most marked in the large white- 

 spotted specimen. There was no comb, although a bare median area 

 at the base of the bill above seemed to indicate a rudiment ; and the 

 rictal wattles of the Guinea-fowl were just indicated at the gape ; of the 

 horn of the Guinea-fowl and gular wattles of the fowl there was no 

 trace at all. The specimen figured was a male, the testes being about 

 the size of haricot beans ; of the others, which have also died and been 

 transferred to the Museum, the brown specimen has been preserved 

 entire in spirits, and the other made into a skeleton. The taxidermist 

 who prepared it states that it was a female, which I should certainly 

 not have suspected from seeing the three birds alive. All were larger 

 than a Guinea-fowl or ordinary Indian fowl, and had particularly strong 



