. British birds. Birds. LETTERS CAN THE MALE INFLUENCE THE COLORATION OF EGGS ? To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs,—In noting {supra, p. 83) the occurrence of the interbreeding of" Song-Thrush and Blackbird, it is stated that " Mr, Adam,son considers that the male influences the colour of the egg-shell in such a case, but this seems impossible of ; On page 199 of Newton's Dictionary of Birds, 1893-96, it is stated : " A most important, but still unexplained, allegation is that eggs, containing hybrids, are not exactly Hke the eggs of the race or species of the fem
. British birds. Birds. LETTERS CAN THE MALE INFLUENCE THE COLORATION OF EGGS ? To the Editors of British Birds. Sirs,—In noting {supra, p. 83) the occurrence of the interbreeding of" Song-Thrush and Blackbird, it is stated that " Mr, Adam,son considers that the male influences the colour of the egg-shell in such a case, but this seems impossible of ; On page 199 of Newton's Dictionary of Birds, 1893-96, it is stated : " A most important, but still unexplained, allegation is that eggs, containing hybrids, are not exactly Hke the eggs of the race or species of the female, but more or less resemble also the eggs of the race to which the fertilizing male belongs. Instances of such mongrel eggs are mentioned by Nathusius [Zeitschrift f. Wissensch. Zoologie, XVIII., page 299) ; and other well-authenticated instances would fori^n valuable contributions to any of our scientific ; In 1903 I was given an egg laid by a Canary hen (pure) when mated with a Goldfinch cock. This egg, which I still have, is more like that of a Goldfinch than that of a Canary. At the same time in my aviary here, I was mating Silver-Pheasant hens with Common Pheasant cocks,, and the eggs laid by this cross were certainly somewhat darker in colour than those laid by pure Silver-Pheasants. I regret that I cannot bring forward further evidence to corroborate Mr. Adamson's opinion, but I think that a discussion on the question in the pages of your magazine would be most interesting. Hugh S. [That a male bird can influence the colour of the shell of the egg laid by the female to which it happens to be mated, seems to us a physiological impossibility. The well-known variabiHty in the coloration of eggs- makes it easy to understand how such a belief could have arisen. It seems to us that the cases cited by Mr. Gladstone can only be considered as '' allegations " (to use Dr. Gadow's word in the passage from Newton's Dictionary) since he brings n
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