The Zoologist/4th series, vol 6 (1902)/Issue 731/Notes and Queries
NOTES AND QUERIES.
MAMMALIA.
Hybrid between Donkey and Burchell's Zebra.—Just before the mail leaves (April 5th), I want to give you the first information about the birth of a hybrid between a male American tame Donkey and a female Burchell Zebra. I cannot have a photo taken to-day, as the mail leaves in an hour; but you will have the first print of it. It is very little striped across the hocks and ears, and has a black stripe all along the back. The colour is a rich reddish fawn, lighter underneath; it has a white star, and four white feet, like the father. It looks strong and healthy, and is probably of great interest, as it may be able to resist tsetse-fly and horse-sickness.—J.W.B. Gunning (Pretoria Museum and Zoological Gardens).
Pine-Marten in Ross-shire.—On the 21st of April last a very beautiful specimen of the Yellow-breasted Marten (Mustela martes) was trapped in Ross-shire. It measured over thirty inches in length, and is of a uniform dark brown colour, except the breast, which is yellow. Some lambs were attacked in the district where this Marten was killed, and the people there think it was the work of this animal (?). It has been sent to me for preservation.—John Morley (King Street, Scarborough).
AVES.
Varieties of Blackbird, Thrush, and Starling.—During last winter I saw no fewer than four Blackbirds (three males and one female) with more or less white in the plumage, all from different localities in this neighbourhood; one of the specimens was peculiarly marked, the head and fore part of the body being white, and the hinder half of body and tail being the usual black. Also a Song-Thrush, almost wholly white, except a few dark spots on breast, and here and there a patch of the usual pale brown upon different parts of the body; tail of the normal colour, except the two middle feathers, which are of a dirty white. The appearance of the bird at first sight reminds one very forcibly of the Clouded Magpie Moth (Abraxas ulmata), as some of the spots, especially on the side of the neck, are much darker than others, which appear clouded and uncertain in outline. The most interesting variety I have seen was a Starling, which had been caught in a trap early in January. The head is much darker than the rest of the body, the back, wings, and tail are of a pale reddish buff, the under parts being of a darker hue, and the whole plumage is very closely and prettily speckled, the tip of each feather being more or less white instead of amber, as in the ordinary bird. Viewed at a little distance, the bird has a dark head, and the plumage gets gradually lighter to the tips of wings and tail, which are almost white. The legs and feet are of the usual reddish brown, beak the horn-colour of winter, and the eyes were normal. The person to whom the specimen belonged suggested that it was an undeveloped albino, but I think not, as in the white Starlings I have seen the legs and beak were much paler, and, if I recollect rightly, the eyes were pink, which, I believe, are the characteristic marks of a true albino.—G.B. Corbin (Ringwood).
A Mimicking Song-Thrush.—Many birds are well known to be gifted with the power of imitating the songs of other birds, but until this morning (May 5th) I was not aware that the Song-Thrush (whose performance I have always thought rather poor) had the power of imitation well developed. A Thrush sings nearly all day in my garden, where I suspect it has its nest, and its cheerful but monotonous notes are heard from about 4 a.m. until dark. I have, however, been under the impression that this spring my garden has been specially favoured 'by various British songsters—the Robin, Hedge-Accentor, and Great Tit I have seen repeatedly—but the notes of the Wren, Willow-Warbler, and Spotted Flycatcher have on several occasions awakened my interest. This morning, whilst watching the Thrush in one of my trees, I heard him imitate the Wren, Robin, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, and Great Tit perfectly. Surely this is unusual.—A.G. Butler (124, Beckenham Boad, Beckenham).
Early Flycatcher in Northumberland.—On April 24th, near Shotley Bridge, I saw for a moment two birds which I felt almost sure were Spotted Flycatchers (Muscicapa grisola). I could not, however, stop to make sure; but three days later (on the 27th) I saw two Spotted Flycatchers in the valley of the Blyth at Stannington, near Morpeth, and watched them for some time at a distance of five or six yards. There was nothing to show that the birds were a pair. I have never previously seen a Flycatcher before the 12th of May.—E. Leonard Gill (Natural History Museum, Newcastle-on-Tyne).
Lesser Redpoll breeding in Yorkshire.— In the month of February last, Mr. Harper, Secretary of the Bradford Scientific Society, sent me a photograph of a nest which he alleged to be that of a Lesser Redpoll (Linota rufescens), built on the ground amongst bracken. Being uncertain whether the species had been properly identified, I wrote him about the matter, as I surmised it might turn out to be the nest of a Twite, and asked for more details. He, however, remained unshaken in his belief of the accuracy of his observation, intimating his intention of forwarding an egg for determination. The egg was duly received on Feb. 14th, and there can be no doubt but that Mr. Harper was correct in naming it as that of the Lesser Eedpoll; and he further stated that within a very limited area there were five, if not six, nests, all built on the ground amongst bracken. For obvious reasons it would not be prudent to reveal the exact locality, but within a short distance of the station chosen was a plantation which seemed much more suitable for nesting purposes. In this district I have never met with nests on the ground, and never many nests together, and it only serves to show how species may vary in their habits in different localities.—E.P. Butterfield (Wilsden).
Ravens Nesting in Co. Antrim.—Whilst exploring a range of precipitous inland cliffs to-day (April 20th)—the exact spot I think it perhaps best, in the interest of ornithology, not to advertise—I came upon the nest of a Raven (Corvus corax), containing four almost fully-fledged young birds. The parent birds kept flying about the cliffs overhead, uttering their loud croaking sound all the time I was in the vicinity of their nest. Aided with a pair of powerful field-glasses, I was able to make a close examination of the nest and the four wide-open mouths clamouring for food, and when one of the parent birds came in sight they all made a scramble to get on to the edge of the nest, two being successful, and afforded me the pleasure of a good view. The nest—an immense structure of sticks almost white with droppings—was placed in a niche in an inaccessible part of the cliff, about thirty feet from the ground. On the mountain-side close by I found a freshly-killed lamb, with its eyes torn out and partly disembowelled, at the sight of which a keeper on the estate, who accompanied me, vowed he would shoot the "vermin." However, after a little persuasion, I got his promise to leave them unmolested, and allow them to finish their business in peace. I was informed by an old resident, it is now over thirty years since Ravens bred in the locality.—W.C. Wright (Charlevoix, Marlborough Park, Belfast).
Condor laying in Confinement.—A Condor (Sarcorhamphus gryphus), kept at the Natural History Museum, Newcastle-on-Tyne, laid its first egg on April 10th. This Condor was brought from the Andes of Chili as a nestling sixteen years ago, and has grown up to be a remarkably fine and healthy mature bird. The egg is chalky white, and normal in every way.—E. Leonard Gill (The Museum, Newcastle).
A former Warwickshire Heronry.—A few pairs of Herons were nesting in Trickley Coppice (a large plantation about a mile and a half distant from Middleton) in 1852—so I learn from the keeper that came into that neighbourhood at that date—and they continued nesting there until about 1875, when evidently one of the pairs first left that cover in favour of a much smaller plantation, some thirty acres in extent, close to Middleton Hall. Here they received the interest and protection of Col. Hanbury Barclay, who resided there at that time, and to whom I am indebted for the following information from notes made at the time:—
"1875. Heron's egg picked up broken at the bottom of an oak-tree in the Kitchen Garden Wood. Some time previously I had noticed a pair of Herons about, and thought perhaps they intended nesting. They started building in a fir-tree, but abandoned that in favour of an oak. On 7th May the bird was sitting. 1876. May 5th, took two eggs from a nest. 1878. Four nests on 14th March; two birds were sitting. The nest from which two eggs were taken two years previously had been greatly increased in size, and again contained eggs. 1879. Six nests hatched out about 22nd April. 1880—the year I left Middleton—there were about twelve pairs in the heronry. I consider the success I had in forming this heronry was partly owing to keeping the plantation perfectly quiet for a fox-covert."
The keeper mentioned that thirteen nests were the greatest number he counted at any one time. After this date, with another tenant at Middleton Hall, their presence was evidently not so welcome, and their numbers began rapidly to decrease; added the fact, as I understand, one of their nesting-trees was blown over. They ceased to nest there some few years afterwards, and two or three remaining pairs again returned to Trickley Coppice, where, I understand, they reared young; but eventually they were molested, and eggs robbed. My personal experience is that in March, 1892, there were four old nests still remaining—one, perhaps, that of two years previously, the others probably of a still earlier construction.—J. Steele Elliott (Clent, Worcestershire).
Wild Duck: Female in Male Plumage.—On the 15th or 16th of January last a very interesting specimen of the Wild Duck (Anas boscas) was killed on the Avon. I saw it very soon after it was shot, and its size, together with the peculiarity of its plumage, at once attracted attention. On referring to 'Yarrell,' I found an almost identical specimen described as a "female having assumed, to a considerable extent, the plumage of the drake, even to the curled feathers of the tail." In the specimen of which I write the plumage partakes of both sexes, the male perhaps most conspicuously; but the measurement and weight were that of an undoubted old female in not very prime condition, if I may judge from the tough manner in which the skin was attached to the flesh. I may describe it as follows:—Crown and back of neck glossy green; cheeks and throat pale brown, dappled with darker brown; white ring almost complete; breast chesnut-brown, with dark—almost black—spots and streaks; back and sides difficult to describe, so mixed are the colours with the black and tawny of the female, and the grey mottled pencilling of the male; under parts lighter; legs, feet, and beak female, the webs of the feet being darker than the legs or toes; the beak orange-brown on sides and tip, with broad central dark greenish black mark, and black nail. The tail both below and above is male—even to the four velvet black curls—but the outermost lancet-shaped feathers, which in the ordinary male are white with grey centres, are in this bird, white with darkm brown shafts and markings. Several people who saw the bird pronounced it hermaphrodite, but on dissection the sexual organs were found to be altogether female, much diseased and shrunken, and of a very dark colour, An equally conclusive proof of the gender was in the size and form of the bony labyrinth at the end of the windpipe. It has been suggested that it is a male in the annual moulting change of plumage, but if its anatomy had not proved it otherwise, the time of year would have been against such a conclusion.
Whilst on this subject, I may mention, that a few years ago a brother-in-law of mine had a Bantam hen which laid for two seasons, then ceased laying, and assumed almost the complete plumage of the cock; and I have on several occasions seen Pheasants in a like condition.—G.B. Corbin (Ringwood).
Note on the Pairing of Moor-hens.—In case it may be of any interest to naturalists, and also to put on record a fact, in the nature of which there lies, as I believe, a deep significance—and that in more ways than one—I send the following note on the pairing (i.e. copulation) of the Common Moor-hen, as witnessed by me, and taken down then and there. It is as follows:—
"April 23rd, 1902.—Have just seen the pairing of Moor-hens. The two were walking side by side, and, it being a back view, I noticed at once that the tail of one of them was expanded, the white feathers being conspicuously shown. This one held the neck a little high, rigid, and curved like a sickle, the head and beak pointing straight down to the ground. It walked with a sort of stately high step, having a good deal of spring in it (such as I have once before noted in winter), and kept a little in front of the other. By reason of this display—for such it may certainly be termed—I took it to be the male, and, as the sequel will show, it may just as well have been as the other, the feathers of whose tail were but little, if at all, expanded, and who in all other respects presented a quite ordinary appearance, seeming—I think, as a consequence—to be a good deal smaller. All at once the displaying bird crouched, upon which the pairing took place, the supposed female acting as, under such circumstances, the male bird normally acts. She then assumed all the port and aspect that the other one had previously had—but had now quite lost—and, thus transfigured, made a proud little stately march in front of him, crouching then, in her turn, upon which there was a second—and reversed—pairing, which, however, was very short, and appeared to me to be but partially successful. The Moor-hens, in fact, acted exactly as did the Great Crested Grebes that I watched; and if this be not a relic of hermaphroditism—functional hermaphroditism, real or simulated, it certainly is—I know not how to account for it. A few minutes afterwards, on the opposite side of the water, precisely the same thing, in every particular, took place, except that here it was obvious that the second attempt to pair was a failure; the action, here, of the first male bird—if I may so speak—after the first pairing, was even more pronounced than on the other occasion. After the second attempt, only, both birds seemed as satisfied as though it had been successful—an important point, I think, to bear in mind in considering the meaning of these curious relations, for the second noces may be in process of becoming a formality, though I certainly do not think it has yet become one either in this species or the Grebe.— Edmund Selous (19, Clarence Square, Cheltenham).
Notes from Aberdeen.—Lapwings (Vanellus cristatus) appeared here on Feb. 23rd; Lark (Alauda arvensis) singing, Feb. 23rd. Comparatively little singing heard this spring. Curlews (Numenius arquata) on March 7th; Pied Wagtail (Motacilla yarrelli), March 14th; Grey and Yellow Wagtail (M. melanope), April 3rd. These birds are rather more common than usual. Grey Redshank Tattler (Totanus calidris), April 6th; this bird may be termed intermittent here, for, though in some seasons they appear, in others they are scarcely seen. Ring-Ouzel (Turdus torquatus), April 7th. Dunlin Sandpiper (Tringa alpina), April 17th; these birds are increasing in numbers here. Whin-bush Chat (Pratincola rubetra), May 2nd. I have seen one Cuckoo, April 30th; but the weather has been cold.—W. Wilson (Alford, Aberdeen, N.B.).
Corrections.—The following apply to my last Norfolk Notes:—Page 83, line 26, for "supposed to be" read "very possibly." Page 99, line 11, for "maruetta" read "carolina."—J.H. Gurney (Keswick Hall).