THK 1’RKSIDENT’s ADURESs^. .">03 
A curious instance of a very rare liybrid being sent over from 
the United States to England happened in -lanuary, 1884. This 
bird was between the Sharp-tailed Grouse {Pe/liu'rrfe.'^ plia.<ia?iel/un) 
and the I’innated Grouse (Cuj/idonia aijndu), and I have the 
pleasure of laying it on the table. It was jiicked up at a well-known 
poulterer’s at Brighton by i\lr. II. Langton, and I think you will 
bo of opinion that it is a very good specimen. J)r. Cones, the 
celebrated iVmeriean naturalist, considered it a very great rarity 
indeed, when ho was in this countr\', and rcciuested that full 
particulars about it might be sent to him, which was done. 
Most naturalists will agree with ^Ir. Cambridge-riullip.s, that 
wihl-bred hybrids are generally produced through either one or the 
other of the panmt binls being unable to obtain a proper mate. 
Yet it is hard to see how this can bo .so in the llritish Isles with 
the Greenfinch and Linnet, which interbreed oftener than any other 
two bird.s, and which are so common that one would think they 
might easily obtain mates at all times (ef. ‘Eoologi.st’ 1883, p. 370 ; 
1887, p. 2GG). 
It seems highly probable that hybridism among birds in a wild 
state takes place far oftener than has been hitherto supposed, and 
if it be so, numerous variations in plumage which have puzzled 
collectors are at once accounted for. Who could possibly distinguish 
a hybrid between the Chitfchalf and the Willow Warbler I And 
why .should it be thought improbable that the Pied and White 
Wagtails habitually hybridize ? Intermediate birds between the 
Common and the Parrot Crossbill have from time to time occurred — 
one such was shot this autumn in Sulfolk, — and thence it has 
been concluded by many that these two forms are not good 
species, but why may not the explanation be that they sometimes 
hybridize ? 
