174
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
four Wheatears, all of which were white, taken at Lakenheath,
Suffolk. The Rev. A. C. Smith gives an account of a captive
male Blackbird, which during the course of a moult assumed a
pied plumage and after the following moult had resumed its nor-
mal plumage. He attributed the appearance of the white feathers
to a fright which the bird had received. The Rev. J. Johnson
states that he had an albinistic Blackbird, which lived with him
for four years and which became gradually whiter until the time
of its death. He considered it a common occurrence to see
Blackbirds, Rooks and Jackdaws with white patches about
them, which generally only remained until moulting. The same
writer records that he had a Jackdaw from the nest, the plumage
then being more white than black, but after the second moult no
white was visible.
To trace the extent and influence of the heredity of albinism
is difficult, but there can be no doubt that it can be transmitted
from one generation to another, and through several generations.
Most of the evidence is of a prima facie nature. Mr. W. H. Slaney
gives an interesting account of the inheritance of albinism by
Pheasants. He describes how in the first instance a pure milk-
white male was seen regularly at a pit, which was a favourite
roosting place of other pheasants. In the spring of the follow-
ing year it associated with a brown hen and an entire brood of six
pied young was the result. In the third season there were several
broods containing albinistic birds. Season after season the
pied varieties increased until as many as from fifteen to twenty
could be seen in cover where there had been only one, and Mr.
Slaney adds that the number would have been greater but that
many were shot by his neighbours. Other instances of a sup-
portive nature will be found under Part 3, which relates to Essex.
It is agreed that birds possessing dark plumages manifest
albinism to a much greater degree than birds with light-coloured
feathers, but, although this is certainly so, the latter may be
more affected than is apparent. We are warned that albinism
is not to be confused with normal whiteness, in which different
pigment-factors neutralise one another in expression. So far
as I can trace no case is known of albinism having been
produced.
It has already been stated that the absence of colour does not
affect the pattern of feathers, yet Mr. Asa C, Chandler has shown