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Dr. E. Hopkinson—Duck Hybrids



DUCK HYBRIDS


By Dr. E. Hopkinson


The number of Anatidae hybrids which have been bred in confine¬

ment is very large, and the possibilities in this line seem almost

unlimited.


The following list of crosses of which I have records may be of

sufficient interest to publish and perhaps produce additions, so that a

really complete record may be obtained. The authorities for these

records can be found in my Records of Birds Bred in Capiiuity, published

by Witherby in 1926, and later ones in the Field, Avicultural

Magazine, etc., and in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club

for 1929 (vol. xlix), where (pp. 93-9) two large series of Duck-hybrid

skins by Lord Bothschild and Mr. Kinnear are described. These

were exhibited at the May meeting of the Club of that year. Lord Boths-

child’s consisted of “ 103 skins of hybrid Ducks of 49 distinct crosses

and 2 reverse crosses ”, all but three of which had been bred in captivity

—“ artificially bred, mostly in Holland, but a few at Netherby Hall

(Sir Bichard Graham) ; Ditton Hall, Cambridgeshire (J. L. Bonhote) ;

Lilford Hall (Lord Lilford) ; and the London Zoological Gardens.”

Mr. Kinnear’s series contained about thirty skins, all but one bred

in confinement, at the Zoo, St. James’ Park, by Lord Lilford, Sir

Edward Grey, Mr. Bonhote, and others. The last-named gave a full

account of his experiments with five species of Anas in the Proceedings

of the 4th International Ornithological Conference, 1905 (pp. 235-264).


In the list below (Both.) and (Kinn.) refer to the exhibitions

.mentioned above, and when both parents are printed in Capitals the

record (or records) I have are good ; when only one parent is so printed

I consider the record sufficient, while a (?) indicates the few in which

there may be doubt as to whether the cross bred in captivity was

fully reared.


List of Duck Hybrids


a. Whooper Swan X Whistling Swan.


b. ,, ,, X Trumpeter Swan.


c. ,, ,, X Domestic Goose.



