EFFECTS OF CASTRATION OF HEN-FEATHERED CAMPINES. 233 



Martling that such birds later become hen-feathered is further 

 and important evidence on this point. 



In May, 1919, 1 obtained three young cockerels that had hatched 

 about the first of March, 1919. The youngest had hatched 

 a week later than the other two, and was still in its juvenile 

 plumage, although feathers of the next plumage were just begin- 

 ning to push out. The bird still peeped. The other, larger birds 

 had just begun to crow and had some of their secondary plumage 

 fairly well developed in critical regions of the body (back, sad- 

 dle), and this showed definitely the hen-feathered condition. 

 These two birds were castrated on June 16, 1919. The testes of 

 both were in the juvenile condition, and were readily removed, 

 although a piece of one testis of the larger bird broke off and its 

 complete removal was indicated as doubtful. Typical feathers 

 from each of these birds are shown in Fig. 2, a, b, c, d, Fig. 5, 



d 



FIG. 2. Feathers of same bird (Fig. i) ; a-d, before, and -aW, after castra- 

 tion, Nov. 13. 



a, b, c, d. As the new feathers came in during the following 

 weeks and months they showed clearly the effects of castration; 

 that is, they were cock-feathered or strongly marked in that 

 direction. The younger bird had just begun to develop its sec- 

 ond plumage, and as the feathers continued to appear, the first 

 of them were hen-feathered in pattern and in shape at the tip 

 of the feather, while the base only was affected by the castra- 

 tion and showed some of the characters of cock-feathering. 

 These results go to show that the young bird also would un- 



