422 H. D. GOODALE 



flock was gone over and checked up with the records of the various 

 operations, which showed that this individual was not a castrated 

 female but had the history given above. At first it was thought 

 that some mistake had been made in banding the chick or record- 

 ing the number but none could be found. Moreover, the pres- 

 ence of the line of suture on each side of the bird showed that 

 it must have been a male, because in ovariotomizing the female, 

 the left side only is opened. 



At this time, August 27, the notes state that the bird had the 

 size and general appearance of a female, was without spurs and 

 had a small comb, in marked contrast to the normal males of 

 the same flock. In general, the color at this age must be described 

 as neither male nor female, but as showing evidences of both. 

 The ventral region was black with buff or brownish red edgings 

 and shadings, according to the section involved. The hackle 

 feathers were black with golden buff centers. The dorsal regions 

 were black with red or reddish brown markings. In the wing 

 bow region the feathers were black with much red, very much 

 like those of a young male. In the remaining dorsal regions 

 there was ^-ery iittle red, and what there was was confined to the 

 margin of the feathers. The secondaries were much like those 

 of the adult male but w^ere sprinkled with fine black spots. The 

 two rows of secondary coverts were red, stippled with black, 

 quite a different sort from those of the normal adult male which 

 are uniformly black. The bird was shown to several experi- 

 enced poultrymen without knowledge of the history of the case, 

 and they all pronounced it a female. From this time on, it was 

 kept under close observation. It maintained its general feminine 

 appearance, except that it grew somewhat long-legged and rangy, 

 as a cockerel would do. The spurs remained undeveloped a long 

 time. When the adult plumage came in, it lost some of its 

 nondescript character and in most sections was clearly that of 

 the normal female. The chief difference lay in the feathers of 

 the dorsal regions which were black with relatively few minute 

 brown spots instead of the imiform mixtures of minute dull 

 black and brown spots characteristic of the Prown Leghorn 

 female. 



