. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. BIRD NOTES BY Frank Finn, , , Vliotograph bij D. Le Souef, Melbourne. ALBINO WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE. Everyone knows that albinism, more or less complete, is not at all an unusual phenomenon in the bird world; but it is not so familiar in some ""filrds. ,n° groups as it is in others. Thus albinistic specimens of birds of prey are decidedly rare, although black varieties of these birds are not at all uncommon. So the white Wedge-tailed Eagle (Uroaetus audax) illustrated here is a very noteworthy bird.
. Animal Life and the World of Nature; A magazine of Natural History. BIRD NOTES BY Frank Finn, , , Vliotograph bij D. Le Souef, Melbourne. ALBINO WEDGE-TAILED EAGLE. Everyone knows that albinism, more or less complete, is not at all an unusual phenomenon in the bird world; but it is not so familiar in some ""filrds. ,n° groups as it is in others. Thus albinistic specimens of birds of prey are decidedly rare, although black varieties of these birds are not at all uncommon. So the white Wedge-tailed Eagle (Uroaetus audax) illustrated here is a very noteworthy bird. The ordinary colour of this species, which is usually on view at the London Zoological Gardens, is dark brown; it inhabits Australia, where also occurs a very remark- able Goshawk (Astur novm-hollandice), which is always white when adult, though brown on the upper- plumage when young. No doubt in the latter case the albinism has proved to be hereditary. At the opposite extreme to the powerfully-flying birds of prey are the flightless members of the ostrich order, and these also are little subject to albinism. White-splashed varieties of the true ostrich have, however, been seen, and the Rhea, the so-called ostrich of South America (Rhea americana) is exceptional in not unfrequently producing a white form. The bird in the photograph was exhibited in the London Zoological Gardens, and Molina, writing considerably more than a hundred years ago, mentions white (and also black) rheas as occurring in Chili. The ordinary colour of the rhea is grey, and as its feathers have some value at present, the birds being periodically driven in and plucked on some estates in Argentina, it would be worth while to attempt to breed the white form, as white feathers always command a higher price than coloured ones. The Aylesbury Duck is a good example of an albino form which is now a permanent breed, especially cultivated about the village from which it takes its name. It is, of course, like all ot
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondo, bookyear1902
