ObscrvatiuHS on Sonic Hybrids of the I'loccidac. 35 
as far as the stomach. A vertical black line under the eye is 
the only remains of the " moustache " of the Mandarin; the 
second black streak round the beak is wanting", and the white 
patch contained between the two is finely speckled with black. 
The patcii of chestnut colour round the ear is not as extensive as 
on the Mandarin. Its sides are vi\id chestnut dotted wnth 
white : the tail feathers and coverings of the tail are like those of 
the Mandarin. The stomach is white. The legs and feet are 
red, being not (|nite as thick and a little longer than the mother's. 
The bird is shajied like the Mandarin, but it is more slender. 
In the same aviary in which this hybrid was reared, a nest 
of White-headed Donacles {Doimcola flaviprymna. Gould) 
containing five young ones, was ready to fly at the end of June. 
I had not at all expected this good result, for from the beginning 
of May, when the nest began to be built, the male Donacle 
deserted the female: he appeared gloomy and puffed up, and 
looked ill. But was he really so ? And what is to account for 
the female starting to build the nest under these conditions ? 
Since I was of the opinion that this was only a passing" disorder, 
I left him in the aviary. He lived until the young ones were 
fully reared, on -wdiom he spent a lot of trouble. Then one day 
I found him dead under a tree. The young ones took no notice 
of his disappearance. When they began to assume their adult col- 
o;irs I noticed that their plumage, instead of becoming lighter, 
Ind a tendency to become darker, and that speckles appeared on 
the chest. It is well known that some naturalists think that the 
Donacola faz'iprynuia is only a sub-division of the Donacola 
castancithorax* , and they support their opinion by tne fact that 
among" birds coming from Australia are found some Donacola 
flaz'iprymnaf . whose plumage is very much alike, in some 
respects, that of the Donacola castaficitlwrax. an obvious proof, 
they say, that we are dealing with an unsettled variety which 
has a tendency to revert to the primitive type. Personally, I 
have not observed that any of the young ones born in my aviaries 
— I have reared at least thirty in five year.s — have been inclined 
* For this delxited fact I cannot do lietter than refer the reader to the articles 
published in the Avici'Jtural Magazine by Mr. Seth Smith and Mr. Tesche- 
maker. I am incHned to think that the birds with the irregular plumage 
are hybrids of two different species. 
t Yellow-rumped Mannikins.— Ed., B.N, 
