Chap. XIII. 



REVERSION. 



45 



to such a degree, that the fact is intelligible only on the prin- 

 ciple that the cross has caused a partial return to the primitive 

 disposition. 



The Earl of Powis formerly imported some thoroughly domes- 

 ticated humped cattle from India, and crossed them with English 

 breeds, which belong to a distinct species; and his agent re- 

 marked to me, without any question having been asked, how oddly 

 wild the cross-bred animals were. The European wild boar and 

 the Chinese domesticated pig are almost certainly specifically 

 distinct : Sir F. Darwin crossed a sow of the latter breed with 

 a wild Alpine boar which had become extremely tame, but the 

 young, though having half-domesticated blood in their veins, 

 were " extremely wild in confinement, and would not eat swill 

 like common English pigs." Mr. Hewitt, who has had great 

 experience in crossing tame cock-pheasants with fowls belonging 

 to five breeds, gives as the character of all "extraordinary 

 wildness;" 40 but I have myself seen one exception to this rule. 

 Mr. S. J. Salter, 41 who raised a large number of hybrids from 

 a bantam -hen by Qallus Sonneratii, states that "all were 

 exceedingly wild." Mr. Waterton 42 bred some wild ducks from 

 eggs hatched under a common duck, and the young were 

 allowed to cross freely both amongst themselves and with the 

 tame ducks ; they were " half wild and half tame ; they came 

 to the windows to be fed, but still they had a wariness about 

 them quite remarkable." 



On the other hand, mules from the horse and ass are certainly 

 not in the least wild, yet they are notorious for obstinacv and 

 vice. Mr. Brent, who has crossed canary-birds with many 

 kinds of finches, has not observed, as he informs me that the 

 hybrids were in any way remarkably wild. Hybrids are often 

 raised between the common and musk duck, and I have been 

 assured by three persons, who have kept these crossed birds 

 that they were not wild ', but Mr. Garnett 43 observed that his 

 female hybrids exhibited "migratory propensities," of which 

 there is not a vestige in the common or musk duck. No case is 



40 ' The Poultry Book,' by Teget- 

 meier, 1866, pp. 165, 167. 



41 'Natural History Review/ 1863, 

 April, p. 277. 



42 'Essays on Natural History' p 

 197. 



43 As stated by Mr. Orton, in his 

 ' Physiology of Breeding,' p. 12. 



