R. C. PUNNETT AND THE LATE MaJOR P. G. BaILEY 43 



In 1915 he moulted out full henny, as shewn by the feathers figured on 

 PI. VIII, fig. 2. The colour of the plumage was dark mossed all over. 

 There was no trace of any intermediate feathering, and he remained 

 a fully henny bird until his moult in 1918, when he put up a number 

 of intermediate feathers (cf PI. VIII, fig. 3). Scattered among these were 

 a number of feathers of the henny type, but the general appearance of 

 the bird at this stage was distinctly cock-like. At his moult in 1919 

 he again became purely henny (cf. PI. VIII, fig. 4), with the exception 

 of five worn intermediate feathers which doubtless belonged to the 

 previous set\ In the spring of 1920 he unfortunately went light, and 

 died at the age of six years. It should be added that we bred from 

 him in 1915 (Exp. 14), selecting him as an intermediate with a pro- 

 nounced tendency to normal feathering. He proved a good getter, as 

 again he did in 1918 and 1919 when tested for fertility. There are no 

 grounds in this case for supposing that the assumption of intermediate 

 feathering is connected with sterility. 



We have so far no other case of the reversion to intermediate 

 feathering after a lapse of several years, but this is probably because, 

 owing to lack of space, it is only in exceptional cases that we have been 

 able to keep birds over a period of four or more years. In the three 

 other cases where we kept a henny cock until its fourth year, there was 

 no appearance of any intermediate feathering. In each of these cases 

 it is true that the bird started as a fully hen-feathered bird, and not as 

 an intermediate. Nevertheless a bird may start as an almost henny 

 bird and later revert to a more cock-like type, as is shewn by the 

 history of (^ 338/17 (ex Exp. 19). Nearly henny in his first plumage 

 he became fully so in 1918. In 1919 however he put up so large a 

 proportion of long intermediate feathers that his general appearance 

 was towards that of a normal cock, particularly when viewed at a 

 distance of 20 yards or so away. The tail sickles were also well de- 

 veloped, as is usual in the case of intermediates with a tendency to 

 normal feathering. In his present moult (1920) all of his new feathers 

 are so far henny, but many belonging to the older series are not yet 

 shed. We shall endeavour to keep this bird, and several others, as long 

 as possible in order to find out what the condition of the feathering is 

 in old age. 



(4) With regard to the relation between intermediate birds and 

 those that are fully hen-feathered from the first, we have not yet 



^ The history of this bird recalls that of the polecat hen-cock recorded by Darwin 

 {A. and P., i. p, 253). 



