CHAPTER VIII. 



FRILLS AND FUNDAMENTAL BARS AS PLUMAGE CHARACTERS. 1 



In pigeons domestication leads to inactivity, and to less strong development of 

 the bones and muscles and to greater variation in form and length of feathers. 

 Witness the elongated and fluted primaries, the frills of the wing and breast, and 

 the ruffles and hoods and similar structures so often found in common pigeons. 

 The tails of fantails, the pouting of pouters, and the excessive cooing of males are 

 further examples of characters favored in their development by domestication and 

 inactivity. 



As instances of domestication leading to lengthening of feathers we may cite 

 the following cases: I now have a rock-pigeon, obtained from Dover, England, 

 some four years ago. She is of typical slate-color with two black bars. She became 

 lame while being bred with an owl pigeon, both being kept confined in a pen. Lame- 

 ness first came on just before eggs were due. She has never recovered, although she 

 is now able to fly. The remarkable thing about her is that her wings seem to have 

 lengthened quite to the end of the tail. This lengthening is here associated with 

 weakness. The Tosa fowl of Japan would seem to be another example of domesti- 

 cation leading to an elongation and multiplication of feathers. Here the feathers 

 are said to "grow throughout life," and they certainly continue to grow beyond the 

 usual growth period. 2 Again, in common fowls the hackles show some tendency 

 to multiply and elongate. 



FLUTED AND FRILLED WING FEATHERS. 



I find among the wild species and domestic varieties of pigeons occasional indi- 

 viduals which show wave-like foldings, or fluting, near the tips of some of their 

 primaries. The appearance of these flutes is shown in plate 69. Figures A and B 

 are from a dark primary of the wild Columba guinea, and afford a comparison with 

 the corresponding prinfary, of white color, of a guinea-marked common pigeon 

 (mondain, figs. C, D). These flutes are more emphasized in the domestic. Such 

 undulations when present on the primaries have a restricted distribution. They 

 are best developed on the longest feathers, 3 on the broader web, and on the oldest 

 part of the feather, the tip. 



In the more anterior feathers of the wing, particularly in the coverts, one occa- 

 sionally (as in the case of flutes, just described) finds a variation from the normal 



1 Frilled feathers were under observation for a period of 12 years, and the fundamental bars for a period of 7 

 years, but the author did not summarize the results of his studies on either of these eharacteristics. He has stated 

 some of his conclusions, however, and these, together with his carefully prepared illustrations, are of interest and value, 

 even though incomplete. It should be noted at once that the term "frill" is sometimes used by the author to describe 

 either of three somewhat different conditions, or, better, to describe what he considers the same condition — weakness — 

 exhibited in three different ways, or on three different body regions. All of these concern a twisting or curling of 

 feathers. The modification of the elongated primaries he sometimes calls "fluting"; that of the wing-coverts, etc., 

 is the true "frill"; the "crease" of the throat, or of the throat and breast, sometimes has recurved (frilled) feathers 

 in it and sometimes not. I have taken the liberty, in some places, to restrict the terms "flute," "frill," and "crease" 

 to the regions just indicated. — Ed. 



2 Davenport (Inheritance in Poultry, Cam. Inst. Wash. Pub. No. 52, 190f>) finds that when Tosa is crossed with 

 White Cochin Bantams (short tails) that "the males of the first generation have the tails abnormally long"; and 

 that "the long-tailed characteristics of the male have been inherited, but in a reduced form." 



3 For a detailed description of one such series of primaries see explanation of plate 70, figure A. — Ed. 



I in 





