20 
QUARTERLY BULLETIN. 
quotation that I can at present recollect is the record of a Mass, 
specimen in “Am. Nat./’ vol. vi, p. 306. The occurrence, of 
the present individual so far inland is worthy of remark. 
ALBINISM AND MELANISM AMONG NOBTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 
BY RUTHVEN DEANE. 
What a striking contrast it is as we examine a collection of 
Birds, to see one of our familiar friends standing out in bold 
relief among others of its own species clad in a spotless suit, or 
perhaps wearing a most variegated coloration of plumage, a 
white head, a white wing, or a few white tail feathers, while the 
rest of the bird retains its normal plumage. 
This “ freak of nature ” is of more frequent occurrence than 
is generally supposed, yet notwithstanding how difficult it is for 
an individual to get together any number of specimens. 
I presume there is scarcely a collection of any size in the 
country that has not one or more specimens represented, and 
yet many of our most experienced collectors, who have shot 
thousands of birds, are yet to have the luck (for sheer luck we 
must call it) to add a specimen to their cabinet taken with their 
own gun, and one must generally be content with but few ex- 
amples. 
During the past few years I have been fortunate enough to 
add about a dozen specimens to my collection, though have only 
taken an individual myself. As I have just remarked we may 
shoot a whole season in various parts of the country, and travel 
many miles without happening upon a single specimen, 3^et 
scarcely a week passes that we do not see in some of our daily 
papers that so and so recently shot a white Robin, or a white 
English Sparrow was seen in one of our public parks, or a white 
Blackbird is making a sensation in a certain localitj^, and it 
must be generall}^ acknowledged that the casual observer is more 
fortunate than one who is constantly’ in the woods and fields. 
Pure albinism is of rare occurrence, the majority of specimens 
retaining more or less of their normal dress. Of course this 
disease is liable to occur in any birds, though more frequently 
