260 Colour and Pattern-Transference in Pheasants 



pen: later a comparisdii (if the two skins showed that some minor dis- 

 tinctions existed. For instance, the interscapular patch on F," BAA" 

 male " D " looked a less solid white mass than that of the type due 

 to the white portion of each interscapular being less, and the black 

 portion larger, giving a slightly chequered aj)pearance ; also, the blue 

 lustre margin on the tail coverts is a little narrower in the extracted 

 Swinhoe than in the type, and on one or two of the tail coverts some 

 fulvous mottling on the black ground was noticed. But such differences 

 are trifling and probably exist on different individuals of the male 

 Swinhoes. This " BAA " F^ male " D " was mated with two pure 

 female Swinhoes, and his offspring F-^ " BAAA," two females and one 

 male, were Swinhoe: the male (F.j ^ " B"), however, though Swinhoe 

 in every character, had a double colour-transference in the tail, the 

 centrals being black instead of white, and one of the laterals white 

 instead of black. 



The two female F3 were mated with a bird tium the inter se Series l** 

 of the pedigree F^ inter se male " A " extracted Swinhoe, and the 

 offspring produced, F^, two females and one male, were again pure 

 Swinhoe in every character, without any mutation. 



All the males of Series 1" and 1"" of the pedigree had one factor 

 transmitted from the Silver, namely, the moult, which was early, instead 

 of late like the Swinhoe, and the method also was Silver, an interesting 

 independent segregation ; the three F^ of Series P'' formed, however, an 

 exception to this rule, for all three birds had the Swinhoe moult, both 

 period and method. All the females of Series l""* ^''3 and F^ had the 

 pattern somewhat more mottled than the type, but as considerable 

 individual variations in pattern and colour are discernible amongst 

 individuals of the pure Swinhoe race, these slight deflections from type 

 are not regarded as reflecting a hybrid condition. 



Nature and Inheritance of Moult. 

 Parent Species and Series 1, 1", l''^ and V' of the pedifjree. 



Period Metbiid, tail 



" B." Gen. nijcthemerus male Early Centrals before laterals 



„ ,, female „ „ ,, 



" A." Gen. swinhoei male Late Laterals before centrals 



female 



