8 
Canary Breeding 
3. One half-clear redpoll (mealy) {L. linaria). 
4. One almost clear yellowlunmner {E. Xitrinella). 
5. One J clear red grouse {L. scoticus). 
0. One f clear blackbird (T. merula). 
7. One almost clear chaffinch {F. coelebs) shot in Aberdeenshire in Dec. 1908 
(Plate II, fig. 1). This beautiful bird, shot ruthlessly by a gamekeeper during the 
severe snowstorm, when it might easily have been caught alive, is white all over 
with the following exceptions : (1) the 8th and 9th quills and 3 or 4 coverts of 
the right wing are of the normal dark colour; (2) the left wing has the 5th 
quill grizzled, the 7th, 8th and 9th dark normal colour, and 3 or 4 coverts also 
dark ; (3) there are also 3 or 4 ticked scapulars on each side. The upper breast 
has a faint reddish-bi'own, and the dorsal region a yellow tinge, which is also seen 
on the rump (vid. coloured figure). 
8. Dr Henry of Kemnay, Aberdeenshire, sent me on June 15th, a beautiful 
pure white male wood pigeon {Golumha paluinhus), which had been shot a day or 
two previously. It is " clear " (no dark feathers) : the eyes are not noticeably 
abnormal. 
I have bred hybrids this season from the following male birds : 
1. One I white (clear) linnet {L. cannabina). 
2. One i white (clear) linnet (L. cannabina). 
Also from two other males of the same description in previous seasons. 
I do not say that all more or less white sports in wild birds are males, for 
I have at present two linnets with one or two white spots about 4 — 6 millimetres 
in size and these are undoubtedly females, and I have seen a pure white female 
pheasant (Pliasiamts colchicus). 
Clear (white) and almost clear female hybrids also occur now and then. 
I believe, however, that the majority in this case is greatly on the male side, 
just as we have seen the preponderance in the case of cinnamon hybrids to be 
on that of the female. 
It should be possible to produce male cinnamon hybrids by mating a self- 
cinnamon cock canary with say a self-cinnamon greenfinch. The nearest approach 
I have made to this is a male canary-greenfinch hybrid of a peculiar greyish colour 
(neither the ordinary "dark" mule, nor cinnamon) which I bred last year from 
a clear yellow cock canary and a self-cinnamon greenfinch — the canary being bred 
from a clear yellow cock and a buff green hen probably of cinnamon descent. 
Origin of the Cinnamon Canary. This question of correlation of sex with 
cinnamon colour is a most interesting and puzzling one, and may explain the 
rarity of cinnamon varieties in wild birds. It also increases our interest in the 
origin of the cinnamon canary. 
