Experiments with Pigeons 135 



of latent characters in these strains. Despite the fact that some 

 of the birds were bought as ''pure" stock, ix. stock that breeds 

 true as long as inbred, yet the presence of latent quahties in 

 them is admitted. Under these circumstances it does not seem 

 to me "contrary to experience" to admit that "pure" strains 

 carry latent characters. 



Davenport contrasts the dominance versus the recessiveness 

 of new characters with the original characters of fowls as indi- 

 cated by their presence in the wild parent species of Indian game 

 and of Aseel. He finds that the new characters dominate as 

 often as they are recessive. Hence there is no reason to suppose 

 that new characters are at a disadvantage in respect to dominance 

 as contrasted with old characters. 



Experiments with Pigeons 



Darwin has given the results of several experiments in crossing 

 pigeons. There are also several other recorded results of hy- 

 bridizing races of pigeons. The hybrids (Fi) appear to be 

 variable in color, but some of the markings pecuhar to the wild 

 Rock Pigeon are apt to appear. For example: A male *'Nun" 

 that is white, with head, tail, and primary wing feathers black, 

 was crossed with a red "Tumbler." Neither parent had any 

 blue in the plumage, nor bars on the tail or wings. Of the sev- 

 eral young, one was red over the back, but the tail was as blue 

 as that of the Rock Pigeon; two others were quite similar; a 

 fourth was brownish and the wings showed a trace of a double 

 bar ; a fifth was pale blue over the back, breast, and tail, but 

 the neck and primary wing feathers were reddish ; the wing 

 had two distinct red bars. 



When a black "Barb" was crossed with a red "Spot," the 

 young were black, or dark, or pale brown, sometimes slightly 

 piebald with white. Six of these birds had double wing bars, 

 etc. When a black Barb was crossed with a snow-white Fan- 

 tail, some of the hybrids were black with a few white feathers, 

 others were dark, reddish brown, and others snow-white. None 

 of them had wing bars. 



