BLACK GROUSE. 811
within a comparatively short spiace of time. The first bird,
from Cornwall, was more of a Grouse in appearance than a
Pheasant; the second, Mr. Byton’s bird,-from Shropshire,
was more Pheasant-like ; but. "the present bird was-decidedly
intermediate, exhibiting characters belonging, to both. The
head, heck, and breast were of-a rich dark maroon colour, the
feathers on the breast showing the darker creseentic4i^; the
upper part of the tarsi were covered with feathers ; the back
and wings mottled blackish grey,, like that of -a young Black
Cock after his first moult, but with Sonie in#cafions of
brown ; the feathers of the tail rather short,- but Straight,-
pointed, graduated, and Pheasant-like. I t was- -remarked^
that this bird more closely resembled the hybrid figured by
White than either -of the specimens^ previously exhibited.
This bird was sent to Mr! Leadbeater to be preserved by
order of the Duke of Northumberland ; it was hnd^rstOddl to
have been killed near Alnwick, and it is now by the duke’s^
liberality deposited m the British Museum-.. •
Dr. Edward- Moorej in his. notes^on the Birds ofDevon-'
shire, published in the- Magazine of Natural History for the
year 1887j says, that a hybrid of; this kind iwas- shot-;.at
Wliidey, near Plymouth, by the Rev. Mr. Mor^teead. . A
male Pheasant, a female'Grouse, and oneyOupg*- had been
observed; in company for some time by the k e e p e rM r .
Morshead shot the Pheasant, and, in a few days, the!young
hybrid ;. but the, Grouse escaped. The young bird bears the
marks of both parents; but the most prominenkcharacters
are those of the Grouse. The space above the- eye* however,
is not bare, as in the Grouse,- but entirely feathered, as in
the Pheasant; the whole of thuneck is covered with black
feathers, somewhat mottled; the tail is not forked',' but fanshaped,
and half as long as that of the Pheasant; the tarsi
are bare, as in the Pheasant; the colour is generally, except
the neck, that of the Pheasant; but it has the white spot on
the shoulders, as .ih the Grouse; I am indebted to the Rev.
W. S. Hore, of. Stoke, .hear Devonport, for the knowledge of
two other, specimens, killed in Devonshire ; one, a fine male,
in. )iis own collection,. the other believed to be at this time in
th%j|ollection of Dr. Rodd, ofiTrebartha Hall, in Cornwall.
.. The«. last,, o f . thirteen . examples', of hybrids .between the
Pheasant.. and Black Grouse* here recorded, was killed in
Northumberland,, for a knowledge of which I am indebted to
the Mndn'ess ;oj| Mr.'Selby,.: ®f Twizell House», This bird
was. ^^Leaxly ip:December 1889 .I®Lord Howick, in a
large wood! belonging tolBail -Grey, a fe.W rhiles to,the east.