IIEV. IL A. MACPHERSON ON HYBRID FINCHES. 
3G7 
XI. 
IIYI5UID FINCHES. 
1>Y liEV. II. A. M.\cpherson, M.A. 
Read 22 nd February, 1887 . 
The fre([uency willi wliicli certain spccio.s of Ducks and Game 
lUrds interbreed, producing hybrid olDpriug which are sometimes 
fertile in turn, is well known to Ornithologists. 
The e.xtcnt to which our European Finches interbreed under 
artificial conditions, has been le.ss generally acknowledged. The 
object of the present paper is to show, from the writer’s e.vperience, 
the progress wdiich has been made of later years in this direction. 
Goldfinch {Carduclb degans). 
( 1 ). 'I'he comparative ease which accompanies the matching 
of the Goldfinch with the Canary (domesticated), has induced 
many working men to endeavour to obtain hybrids between 
the Goldfinch and Ilulllinch. The writer has personally known 
six men who succeeded in this essay. The male parent in all 
known cases has been the Goldfinch. In 1883, seven hybrids 
of this description were exhibited at the Crystal Palace Bird 
Show; in 1887, five appeared there in the hybrid class.* 
The male birds difler from one another only in' brilliancy or 
obscurity of tint, and the following description Avould apply to all 
* The writer first met with hybrids between the Goldfinch and Bullfinch 
in 1870, but Mr. Harting has pointed out that two hybrids of this kind 
were c.vhibited at the Crystal Palace Show as long ago as 1858 (‘ Zoologist,’ 
188G, p. 100). 
VOL. IV. B B 
