AN ALBINO Bum.
A sparrow with a completely white head (mimicking a bald-headed eagle) has been seen by a correspondent, who asks whether such things happen, or whether he should consult an oculist ! Albino specimens of most species of birds have been seen, and indeed may still be seen in the Rothschild Museum. Many years ago I was told that one of the excep- tions was the French partridge, but by a very curious coinci- dence three albino Frenchmen were that season shot by friends of mine in Suffolk. The trio were stuffed and are curiously different in marking. I knew a rookery where one white rook appeared year after year ; and one garden very familiar to me in the Isle of Wight was populated with varie- gated blackbirds over many years. Albinism is supposed not to be hereditary. The colouring matter is not absent—such is the theory tested by many examples—but latent. It lies hid for one generation only. Doubtless the Mendelians are right in this respect ; but I should say there was evidence enough to suggest that, at any rate, the tendency to albinism is apt to appear in the descendants of albinos.
Previous page
