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Show 1903.] ON COLOUR-VARIATION IN THE GOLDFINCH AND RUFF. 3 Rydak River, north-east of the Buxa Cantonment, at an elevation of 5000 feet. He made the following remarks upon the exhibit and on other variations in Deer :- " The specimen is remarkable as exhibiting a pair of antlers, springing from the bony pedicels on their outer sides, somewhat below the ordinary antlers, which are normal in form. Although not alike on the two sides, these little supernumerary antlers have not, except for this, an unnatural appearance ; and as the local shikaries had informed my friend that in a part of Bhutan such a variation was not uncommon, it may be that we may ultimately see a four-horned race of the Barking-Deer. " While on the subject of variation in Deer, I may perhaps be permitted to mention two curious colour-abnormalities in these animals, which have come under my notice in India. In the above-mentioned Kakur I have seen two melanic specimens, both living females, one of which, to my knowledge, came from the Himalayas, and, I believe, the other also. Both were of a peculiar iron-black colour, i. e. black of a greyish shade, like that of cast-iron ; this grey shade pertaining to the individual hairs, for there was no admixture of white ones. Also, in the Sambhar {Cervus unicolor) I have seen two remarkable varieties in quite young specimens. One of these was a very rufous specimen, as red as a Barking-Deer; while the other, which I saw the day after its birth, was spotted with white along the sides of the back, like the adult Barasingha {Cervus duvauceli) in its summer coat. Young Sambhar are commonly said to be more rufous than adults, though I have not noticed this in those I have seen ; and Mr. W . Rutledge, in whose possession I saw the above rufous specimen, in spite of his long experience as a dealer, was so surprised at this one that he was doubtful of the species. As to the spotted fawn, there is no doubt of its rarity as a variation; I have never seen or heard of a similar specimen, the usual uniformity of the young pelage being a remarkable specific character of the Sambhar." Mr. Frank Finn also exhibited a living specimen of the Goldfinch {Carduelis carduelis) showing a rare variation, and a skin of the Ruff {Pavoncella pugnax) showing albinism, and made the following remarks upon them :- " The living Goldfinch now exhibited is a male of the large Eastern race sold as ' Siberian Goldfinches' by bird-dealers, and is remarkable in that it shows an extremely rare variation in colour. Behind the black band on the head there is on each side a small patch of glossy red feathers, similar to those of the face. I have never before seen such a variation either in this species or in the Himalayan Goldfinch, and the dealer from whom I procured it, Mr. A. Zache, of Great Portland Street, told me he had only seen one other, also a male. Mr. H. Blake-Knox, however, in a valuable paper on ' Abnormal Plumages in the Goldfinch' (Zoologist, 1* |
