38 INHERITANCE IN POULTRY. 



females are marked like the Dark Brahma female. Red pigment is com- 

 moner in this set, with White Leghorn father, than in the first set, with 

 Dark Brahma father. This speaks for the hypothesis that red has come 

 from the White Leghorn, as, according to usual experience, the father tends 

 to determine coloration. 



4. TAIL, COLOR. First set. Of 1 1 offspring, 8 have a white tail, the prevail- 

 ing color of the body ; in one case the tail is white except for one black 

 feather, and in two cases it, like the body in general, agrees with the Dark 

 Brahma female in being black with buff penciling (fig. 23). 



Second set. Of 15 hybrids, 6 are nearly or wholly white on the tail, one 

 has two black feathers, 5 are black, two are black-and-white barred, and 

 one is black with buff, as in the Dark Brahma female. The tail color tends 

 to resemble that of the general body. 



5. COMB FORM. In all cases of adult hybrids of either set, the comb is pea 

 (fig. 24). Pea comb is consequently here also dominant over single comb. 



6. EARLOBE. Both the Brahma solid red and the White Leghorn white, 

 red-margined earlobes appear in about equal numbers. It is probable that 

 my heterozygous White Leghorn bantams have been early crossed with some 

 red-lobed race. 



7. IRIS COLOR. This is definitely established only in mature birds. All 

 eyes show more red than the Dark Brahma and the tendency is to redden with 

 age ; consequently red is probably dominant. 



8. VULTURE HOCK. This is absent in all cases (fig. 22). One hybrid 

 has the hock feathers a little elongated. Short feathering at the heel is 

 dominant. 



9. FOOT FEATHERING. first set. Of 19 hybrids having the Dark Brahma 

 father, 3 unhatched chicks are recorded as non-booted. Of the remainder, 8 

 are slightly or very slightly booted. Three adults have a medium covering 

 of feathers on the foot. The Brahma tendency toward booting has been 

 diluted by the cross with the Leghorn. 



Second set. Of 24 offspring of Dark Brahma mother, all have well-devel- 

 oped boots. This constitutes a striking case of a difference in reciprocal 

 crosses. Booting is probably here, as elsewhere, dominant, but frequently 

 very imperfectly so. 



CONCLUSIONS. 



Of the nine characteristics, the following exhibit clear alternative inherit- 

 ance, the dominant characteristic being printed in italics : 

 Pea comb vs. single comb. 

 No vulture hock vs. vulture hock. 

 Booted foot vs. unbooted (when Brahma is mother). 



The other characteristics can not for one reason or another be so easily 

 classified. The red of the wing bar seems to behave like a unit character 

 and is independent of the coloration of the rest of the body. 



