334 BIRD BEHAVIOUR 



duck when wild, and half-wild ones bred at the Zop 

 perched freely if left unpinionied. As, howeyejtj, 

 the ancestor of the Ducks was a percher — if the 

 ]VI^pie-Goos,e really represents it — this would agtiipi 

 be a case of reviersion. The greater readiness to 

 take wing in these Muscovy-Mallard hybrids, which 

 has long been well known^ as they have often been 

 shot in a wild statCj is undoubtedly a reversionajy 

 trait, the comnaon iP.uck bqing usually flightless and 

 the tame Muscoyy very lazy, though able to fly. 



Qeijejfa^y speaking, hybrids between remote 

 species, placed universally in dif eareftt gejiera, such 

 as most of thpS:© of which I have been speaking, are 

 inclined to be wild and spiteful, and are almost 

 universally sterile ; so much so, that one cannot 

 persuade bij'd-fanciers that the GoldfinchrCanaiy 

 " mule "can ever breed. A f ^w years agOj however, 

 a bird was exhibited at a Horticultural Hall bird 

 show which purported to be a cross between a 

 GoldfinchrCanary and a true Goldfinch, and as it 

 looked exactly what one would expect such a bird 

 to be like, and most certaiinly not like the ordinary 

 first cross or like any casual variation of the Gold- 

 finch, I am inclined to accept its authenticity; 

 especially as M. Suchetet, in his book, on wild 

 hybrids in birds^ mentions breeding on one occasion 

 from the hybrid between the domestic Dove and 

 Figeoji, mated back to a Dove, thou^ this cross 

 is also usually quite sterile. 



Hybrids between dps^y allied species, such as the 

 Amherst and Gqlden Pheasants, a»d Mallard aadi 



