HYBRIDS AND HYBRIDISATION 



game preserves, in order to introduce a pied variety into their 

 preserves. Considering the number of Albino Pheasants that 

 are supplied by dealers in live game birds, the inference is 

 that a permanent white race has been established, but for 

 what reason it is difficult to estimate. White Pheasants are 

 poor layers, not particularly hardy, and their eggs frequently 

 infertile. Pied cock birds are more liable to perpetuate the 

 pied plumage than the hens, and there is no doubt that the 

 common ring-necked Pheasant, when mated with a white 

 bird, or with a pied one for that matter, has a better chance 

 of producing pied offspring than in the case of a pure bird 

 such as P. Colchicus. 



Reversions to original plumage are of common occur- 

 rence, and it is impossible to lay down any established law 

 that will guide one in the production of pied birds, or 

 even of albinos. 



The assumption of what may be regarded as strictly 

 winter plumage, either in a partial or complete manner, is 

 common to many species of both winged and ground game, 

 likewise to some vermin, being obviously developed for 

 protection, by harmonising with the snow. 



Typical examples are afforded by the Mountain Hare, 

 the Ptarmigan, the Ermin, and certain other members of the 

 Mustelidae. Albinism is the converse of melanism, in which 

 the plumage assumes an intense blackness. In animals, 

 deafness is frequently associated with albinism. 



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