R. Staples-Browne 157 



Types produced in F^. 



A. Blacks. In every case the birds were of a dull sooty black 

 colour. Traces of wing and tail bars were visible on handling the 

 birds, and in many cases when the birds were flying in an aviary. In 

 Exp. 75 five of the birds produced showed a very few white feathers 

 on the thighs, and two of these had 3 or 4 white feathers on the 

 rump as well. In Exp. 76 none of the young bad any white feathers 

 at all. I have shown in my previous paper (Exp. 13) that a coloured 

 bird having a few white feathers is not necessarily heterozygous for 

 white, and the birds raised here in Exp. 75 are doubtless comparable 

 in that respect with the blue </ 19 raised iu Exp. 5 from the mating 

 of two Fi Barb-Fantails. 



B. Duns. The dun $s raised in Exp. 76 are of a very much 

 lighter colour than the dun Carriers. They possibly bear the same 

 relation to the dark duns that the sooty blacks described above do to 

 the dark "raven-blacks" of the fancy varieties. I therefore propose to 

 call them "smoky duns." The head, neck, breast, rump and tail feathers 

 are the darkest parts of the birds. The wing coverts and flights are 

 lighter. The wing and tail bars can be made out, but the wing bars 

 are more obvious than the tail bar. The wing coverts present a some- 

 what blotchy appearance, but neither Mr Bonhote, who examined these 

 birds, nor I could satisfy ourselves that chequering was present. 



I have this year obtained some pure bred dun owls and find that 

 they are identical iu plumage with the smoky duns here described. 

 Presumably, therefore, the full rich dun colour found in the Carrier and 

 some other varieties is not found in the owl. 



Cross between Dun Carrier % and Blue Dragoon </. 



Exp. 77 {v. Table VI). A pair of these birds have been mated 

 together for two years, and a uniform ^i generation of nine blacks 

 resulted. These blacks were of a darker shade than the black F^ Owl- 

 Fantails, but, nevertheless, indications of the bars could be seen. In 

 one case only were a few white feathers present on the thighs. 



Exp. 78 {v. Table VI). A pair of the F^ blacks, raised in Exp. 77, 

 were mated together and produced 5 Blacks, 1 Dun, 1 Blue, and 1 bird 

 which died in the nest at an early age. It was believed to be a silver, 

 but was too young to be definitely identified as such, as it is difficult 

 in the case of very young birds to distinguish between a blue and a 



