File:Transactions of the Natural History Society of Glasgow (1890) (14598108339).jpg

Identifier: transactionsofna01natu (find matches)
Title: Transactions of the Natural History Society of Glasgow
Year: 1890 (1890s)
Authors: Natural History Society of Glasgow Natural History Society of Glasgow. Proceedings Natural History Society of Glasgow. Proceedings and transactions
Subjects: Natural history Natural history -- Scotland
Publisher: Glasgow, The Society
Contributing Library: MBLWHOI Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MBLWHOI Library

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orded in Scotland. The bird is remarkably handsome, and is one ofa pair that were hatched in the coops on the groundsof Loudoun Castle, Ayrshire, in tlie season of 1883.It was killed in December last, and presented to theMuseum by the lessee, Mr. Matthew Hodgart. Thecompanion bird, the skin of which is still in thepossession of Mr. Hodgart, was shot in November,1883. Both were males, and their flesh partook ofthe flavour of the Blackcock rather than that ofthe Pheasant. The stomach of the bird last killed containedleaves of iDlants, seeds of the orache (Atriplex)j andquartz. In contour, or general appearance, both birds par-take more of the character of the Blackcock thanof the Pheasant; but in size they are superior toeither, although the bird last killed hardly turnedmore than 3J pounds. The head, back of the neck, rump, and lower sur-face of the body, are of a lustrous bluish-brown;back, wing-coverts, and outer webs of the primaries Trans. Nat. Hist. Soc Glasgow T?.! I TNT S^PI. 3.
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NOTES ON A HYBRID. 261 (of which the third and fourth are the longest),barred or variegated with brownish-white, suggestingthe markings of the Pheasant; tibial joints and tail,which is broad and fan-shaped, have the feathersmottled, shading into black at the extremities; redskinny spaces at the eyes as in the Blackcock; feetand cla^vs as in the Pheasant. The two birds, although strongly resembling eachother, differ more particularly in the colouring ofthe feathers on the lower surface of the body.These, in the bird first killed, are barred with whiteand brown, suggesting the normal markings of thePheasant; while, on the bird that longest escapedthe gun, the variegated feathers have been replacedby others wholly bluish-brown, doubtless havingtheir origin in the male parent,—indeed, the valua-tion of the plumage in its change towards the adultstate shows a tendency towards the sable colouringof the Blackcock and the obliteration of the reddishhues of the Pheasant. The habits of these

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