OCR Text |
Show 550 MR. H. SAUNDERS ON A HYBRID DUCK. [Dec. 21, Mr. Howard Saunders, F.Z.S., exhibited on behalf of Mr. R. J. Howard, of Blackburn, a specimen of a hybrid between the Tufted Duck (Fuligula cristata) and the Pochard (F. ferina), bred in Lancashire; and read the following extract from a letter addressed to him by Mr. Howard on the subject, dated Fern Bank, Blackburn, Oct. 28th, 1886:- " I have forwarded for your acceptance a hybrid between the Pochard and the Tufted Duck, knowing that" an authenticated specimen will be of interest; for I suppose I must take it for granted that the bird referred to by you in the 4th edition of ' Yarrell' (vol. iv. p. 433) as ' apparently a hybrid between the Tufted Duck and Pochard' is the only one known to you. *' A pinioned pair of Pochards first bred at Woodfold Park in 1882, since which date several broods have been annually reared there ('Yarrell,' vol. iv. p. 414). I found the Tufted Ducks nesting on the same reservoirs in July 1884, some of the young birds being subsequently captured, pinioned and turned down again (ibid. p. 431); the first recorded instance of the breeding of the Tufted Duck in Lancashire. The birds of both species leave the reservoirs during the severe weather of winter. " O n the 9th of May last, I saw a male Pochard apparently paired with a pinioned female Tufted Duck. On the 23rd of tbe same month two male and one female Tufted Ducks appeared ; the male Pochard would not allow the male Tufted Ducks near the pinioned female, but drove them off if they approached within 30 or 40 yards. Soon after this all the drakes left, and I saw little of the ducks until the 20th June, when both appeared on the water ; the full-winged female Tufted Duck with a brood of 9, the pinioned one with 10 young hybrids. "From the first I could easily distinguish the pure-bred young from the hybrids: the upper parts of the former being uuiform umber-brown, whilst the latter had the cheeks and throat buff. As the birds began to feather, I noticed that the hybrids were bulkier, the general appearance being more that of the Pochard than of the Tufted Duck ; the head, neck, and upper surface were of a much lighter and warmer brown, the feathers about the base of the upper mandible rather lighter-coloured than the rest of the head, but not showing a distinct patch as in the Tufted Duck. W e caught two hybrids on the 30th July, and put them on the reservoir in the Blackburn Corporation Park ; and on the 2nd August I sent two, in the name of Mr. Thwaites (to whom I am indebted for permission to deal with the birds as I wish), to the Zoological Society's Gardens. Their description is as follows, the sex being uncertain :-Length 15*5 and 15 in.; bill dark blue, almost black, 16 in. in length, and a trifle more dilated towards the point than in the pure Tufted Duck ; irides yellowish brown ; legs and toes blue, darkest at joints, webs black. Two of the young Tufted Ducks, male and female, caught on the 31st July : length 14*5 and 14 in. ; bill black, 1*5 in. in length ; irides dull yellow ; legs and toes as in the above hybrids. '•The bird which I sent you was shot on the 19th August, being |