Characters of Hybrids 
a modified form in the hybrid; for instance, in 
that between the blackcock (Ze¢rao t¢etrix) and 
the capercailzie (7. urogallus), the forked tail of 
the former reappears to a small extent in the 
hybrid. 
Very interesting are those cases in which the 
hybrid resembles neither parent, but tends to be 
like an altogether distinct species, or to have a 
character of its own. Thus the hybrids between 
the pied European and chestnut African shel- 
drakes (Zadorna cornuta and Casarca cana), now 
in the British Museum, bear a distinct resem- 
blance to the grey Australian sheldrake (C. ¢ador- 
nozdes). In pheasants, also, the crosses between 
the common and gold, common and Amherst, 
gold and Japanese, and gold and Reeves’ 
pheasants, widely different as all these birds 
are in colouration, are remarkably alike, being 
all chestnut-coloured birds with buff median tail- 
feathers. These may be seen in the British 
Museum. This phenomenon, together with the 
above-noted disappearance of specialised features 
in hybrids, is possibly comparable to the 
“reversion” observed when widely - distinct 
domestic breeds are crossed, and so may give 
us an idea of the appearance of the ancestors of 
the groups of species concerned. 
In the few cases wherein several generations 
of hybrids have been bred zuter se, there seems 
to have been no reversion to the original pure 
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