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Show 240 FOWLS. CIIAI'. VJI. white CochinR, as they come to mntmity, often assume a ycl- ]owu. ;1 1 or a f'f' ron t'm gc ; a.n d tho lonnt"·>e r· l. l(,' Ck haeklcs of blaelc h . old not uncommonly bantam coeks/8 when two or t ree yems ' become ruddy · those latter ba ntams occa ·w na lly " even. moult brassy wm· geol,' or a tua1 1 y re d s· ho11lde1·cd·" So. that m these several eases we see n. p1 a m· t en de ncy to reversiOn . to. the hu. e:-; of G. bankiva, even dnri1Jg t h e l1'f' e t'n ne o f the ·i n.d ividual bn·d · With Spani.·h, Polish, pencilled llamburgh, sJlver-spangled Ham burgh io· wlR, ancl w1· t 1 · tl1or· less common breeds I 1 some o . . . . ' have nov 'r heard of a black-breasted red bn·d hanng a~pear~d. From my exp n·e nce WI' th p1· geon ·, I made the Jollow. m. g crosses. I first killed all my own poultry, no others. hvmg h near my ouse, anu.1 then }Jrocnred ' by .M r · 'feoo· etmeier's as.s istance, n. iirst-rato black f panish cock, and hens of the follow111g p~re breeds,-white Game, white Cochin, silver-spangled Pohsh, silvor-spano·led Hf~mburgh, silver-pencilled Hamburgh, and white Silk.0 In none of these breeds is there a trace of rod, nor when kept pure have I ever heard of tho appearance of a. red feather; though such an occurrence .would p:rhaps not be very improbable with white Games and wh1te Cochms. 0~ t~e many chickens reared from the above six crosses the maJonty were black both in the down and in the first plumage; some were white: and a very few were mottled blac~c and white. In o~e lot of eleven mixed eggs from the wh1te Game and wh1te Cochin by the Llack Spanish cock, seven of tho chickens were white, and only four Llack: I mention this fact to show tb.at whiteness of plumage is strongly inherited, and. tha~ the beh:f in the prepotent power in the male to transmit. h1s colou~· IS uot always correct. The chickens were hatched lll the sprmg, and in tho latter part of August several of the young cocks began to exhibit a change, which with some of th~m inereased tluring the following years. Thus a young malo bud from the silver-spangled Poli h hen was in its first plumage coal-black, and combined in its comb, crest, wattle, and beard, the characters of both parents; but when two years old the secondary wingfeathers became largely and symmotrically marked with white, and, wherever in G. banlciva the hackles arc red, they were in this bird greenish-Llack along the shaft, narrowly bordered 's Mr. llc·witt, in ''J'h<• Poullry Book,' lJy W. B. 'J' ·g<:Lmcier, lSGG, p. 2~8. CliAP. VII. REVERSION .AND ANALOGOUS VARIATION. 241 with brownish-black, and this again broadly bordered with very pale yellowish-brown; so that in general appearance the plumage had become pale-coloured instead of black. In this case, with advancing age there was a great change, but no reversion to the reel colour of G. banlciva. A cock with a regular rose comb derived either from the spangled or pencilled silver Hamburgh was likewise at first quite black; but in less than a year the neck-hackles, as in the last case, became whitish, whilst those on the loins assumed a decided reddish-yellow tint; and here we see the first symptom of reversion; this likewise occurred with some other young cocks, which neod not here be described. It has also been recorded 29 by a breeder, that he crossed two silver-pencilled Hamburgh hens with a Spanish cock, and reared a number of chickens, all of which were black, the cocks having golden and tho hens brownish hackles; so that in this instance likewise there was a clear tendency to reversion. Two young cocks from my white Game hen were at first snow white; of these, one subsequently assumed pale orange-coloured hackles, chiefly on the loins, and the other an abundance of fine orange-red hackles on the neck, loins, and upper wing-coverts. Here again we have a more decided, though partial, reversion to the colours of G. banlciva. This second cock was in fact coloured like an inferior "pile Game c.ock ;" -no·w this sub-breed can be produced, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by crossing a black-breasted red Game cock with a white Game hen, and the "pile" sub-breed thus produced can afterwards be truly propagated. So that we have the curious fact of the glossy-black Spanish cock and the black-breasted red Game cock when crossed with white Game-hens producing offspring of nearly the same colours. · I reared several birds from the white Silk-hen by the Spanish cock: all were coal-black, and all plainly showed their parentaae in having blackish combs and bones ; none inherited the so-call~d silky feathers, and the non-inheritance of this character has been observed by others. The hens never varied in their plumage. As the young cocks grew old, one of them as, umed yellowi h-white hackles, and thus resembled in a considerable 29 'Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 14th, 1862, p. 325. VOL. I. R |
