94 



Colour and Other Characters in Pigeoiin 



Series C and D. Black, blue, and tvhite. 



The third series of experiments was concerned witli the inheritance 

 of colour only. In it two original pairings were made, G and D, a 

 Black Fantail hen by White Fantail cock and the reciprocal cross 

 white hen by black cock. The Black Fantails used were guaranteed of 

 pure stock by the breeder who supplied them, all their feathers were 

 full black except the webs of the tail feathers and primaries, which 

 were very finely mottled with whitish, especially at the base, giving 

 the web a greyish appearance. After a number of young had been 

 obtained from these birds paired with White Fantails, the black cock 

 and hen were paired together and produced two young, one of which 

 was full black with practically no grey on the webs of the quili-feathers, 

 the otlier black with as much grey as the parents, and four white 

 feathers, two primaries in the left wing and two covert feathers in the 

 right. It is possible therefore that one or both the original black 

 parents was not pure bred. Control experiments were made with 

 pedigree birds as described below. 



White Fantail 



Black Fantail 



19 black and white (all with much white) 

 of which 



F-ii 



3 white 



and 



black 



F] ? 



I 

 1 white 

 and 

 blue 



F^i 



FxS 



? White 

 Fantail 



I 

 F,i 



Fii 



4 black 



and 



white 



4 blue 



and 



white 



1 



I 

 7 white 



I 



I 

 2 white 

 and 

 black 



I 

 2 white 



1 black and 

 white 



3 white and 

 black 



Fig. 4. (Series D.) 



1 blue and 

 white 



5 white 



The results of pairing these Black Fantails with Whites were as 

 follows. In Series C (black $ x white c/",p. 93) 13 young were produced, 

 all pied black and white, but of these 10 had a preponderance of white, 

 and three of black. The birds varied considerably, but those with 

 excess of white may be described as white fantails, generally with most 

 of the tail feathers black with grey along the shafts, and black patches 

 of varying size and distribution on the body and wing coverts. The 

 three with excess of black were black birds, with scattered white 



