BLOND AND WHITE RING-DOVES CROSSED WITH MOURNING-DOVES, ETC. 131 



after with no results. I got eggs again, and from either the second or the third clutch I 

 found that one egg was fertilized ;« but about that time I was obliged to travel to Woods 

 Hole and in transit lost the egg. I got more eggs in the summer, some of which were 

 fertilized, and in which development ran on for several days. Some of these seemed very 

 jironiising, but it all came to naught. Through the entire summer the infertility or degree 

 of (le\olopment grew worse and worse, until I failed completely to get eggs fertilized at all. 

 I kept the pair to see what the result would be another year, knowing that the possi- 

 bilities of fertilization are less during the latter part of the season than they are at the 

 beginning. This year (1898) I have already had the good fortune to get two hybrids from 

 this pair. (A 1) 



The crosses of ring-doves with common jjigcons represent a wider cross than 

 that described in the preceding section of this chapter — family differences here 

 instead of subfamily distinction there. The present records for the wider cross 

 show a decidedly greater amount of infertility than was noted in the earlier series, 

 and correspondingly only males result from these matings, except, as already noted, 

 in two matings (tables 116 and 117) involving a hybrid male parent and a female 

 homer which was possibly a mongrel. Restricted life-terms and abnormalities 

 also reappear in this wide cross. The breeds of common pigeons used for 

 these crosses were the archangel, admista, fantail, tumbler, and homer. The 

 records have been grouped in this order and the tabulations given with a minimum 

 of discussion. 



Archangel x ring. — Tables 108 and 109 present the results of the mating of a male arch- 

 angel with 6 different females. This bird was almost fully fertile with a related breed, C. 

 gyrans; only about one-fourth of the eggs of the 2 pure St. risoria (D 1 and D 2) showed 

 any development; 6 tests with another (weak, see below) pure ring {GF 1) proved entirely 

 infertile, as did 6 tests with alha ( IT ,.•') and 4 tests with an a\ha x risoria hybrid. 



Admista X ring. — One of tlie lilonil ring females {D 2) which was mated with the arch- 

 angel {Arl) was previously twice tested with another common pigeon. With the archangel 

 only 5 of 21 eggs showed any development whatever; 3 hatched, 2 lived 9 to 1 1 days. With 

 the two other common pigeons she gave a somewhat better result, though still a poor one, 

 as is shown in table 110. 



Fantail x ring. — The record presented in table 111 shows how little fertile is the widely 

 separated cross C. laticauda x St. risoria. The small but perceptible influence of the male 

 on the number of tail-feathers (rectrices) in the two hatches (of 44 tests) is of interest. The 

 sire had 19 rectrices, the dam 12. One of the young had 14 tail-feathers— a feather added 

 to each side. The other young had 13, the extra feather being added to the center of the 

 tail. The first young hved only 3 weeks, but ' ' the second hybrid (K 1 ) hatched December 1 , 

 1897 (still alive March 6, 1909),' with 13 tail feathers, and with a slight tilting of the 

 middle feathers. All of these tail-feathers were colored; but when the bird became about 10 

 years old (1907-8) three of its tail feathers became uMte in course of molt. The original 

 rectrices were recorded, the color noted, and the feathers plucked and mounted. I still 

 have the mount, but it has been damaged by moths. In 1908 I again plucked and mounted 

 the tail feathers; I have a photograph of the bird and another of the mounted tail. 



« After 3 or 4 days of incubation one can readily learn whether an egg has a living and developing young by holding 

 it up to the light. 



' Before noting that this was a pedigreed bird it was killed April 5, 1914. It was then healthy and vigorous, 

 though more than 16 years old. Birds of the mother's species— 5<. nson'a— probably never live even 10 years. When 

 2 years old this bird was fertile with a tumbler (see table 11.3).— Editor. 



