The Molting of Fowls. 



371 



and, as the feathers appeared, an attempt was made to stain them also. 



The color took well on the flights and tail feathers, not as well on the 



b G body feathers. 



The first feathers 

 were stained red 

 and those that 

 replaced them 

 were stained 

 black. At the 

 age of eight 

 weeks, all the red 

 feathers in tail 

 and wings had 

 been molted, and 

 at thirteen weeks, 

 all the black 

 feathers had been 

 replaced by white 

 ones. At the 

 times mentioned, 

 the bodies were 

 covered with pin- 

 feathers ; but this 

 does not prove 

 that these feath- 

 ers replaced 

 others which had 

 been shed. This 

 sequence of molts 

 corresponds very 

 closely to the se- 

 quence of molts 

 in young wild 

 birds.* 



From thirteen 

 weeks to just 

 before maturity 

 (five to six 

 months) the 

 chicks were net 



Fig. 6. — Feather tracts of White Leghorn at 4 weeks. — 

 Side diagonal view: a, breast; b, neck; c, inside of 

 wing; d, flight-coverts; e, back; f, tail; g, thigh. 



* Dwight — "Sequence of Plumage and Molts of the Passerine Birds of New York." 



