726 Michael F. Guyer 
became tame although frequently handled. When held they 
would struggle and try to bite and would discharge from the 
cloaca, time after time, great quantities of an offensive viscid 
liquid, apparently as a means of defense. In this connection it 
should be stated that dissection showed the cecal appendages 
to be much larger than those of either parent form. 
In general texture the feathers are more or less intermediate 
in structure but, although larger on the whole, perhaps resemble 
more those of the guinea. ‘The tail, while less erect than that of 
the langshan, is vaulted and never droops like that of the guinea. 
The large quill-feathers of tail and wing frequently possess vanes 
which are black on one side of the rachis and more like the gen- 
eral hybrid plumage on the other. In general there is a tendency 
for the unexposed parts of the larger feathers to be black and for 
the exposed parts to be reddish’or yellowish brown, more or less 
mottled with black. Traces of the white markings to be men- 
tioned later are also frequently in evidence. In all of the fowls 
the first primary is white; in some the second and third are also 
white. This is a condition which is frequently found in the cor- 
responding primaries of the guinea. The conspicuous white 
dotting so characteristic of the plumage of the latter is entirely 
lost. The feathers of the head and neck are mainly black although 
some of the hackles show a pronounced reddish or chestnut tinge. 
In two of the forms there is also a decided sprinkling of white 
feathers in this region. Furthermore these two show occasional 
white feathers at various places on the body and likewise a con- 
siderable number of reddish brown feathers which may be more 
or less mottled with black (Fig. 4, Plate I). 
The striking feature in the plumage of all these hybrids is that 
most of the feathers exhibit a pronounced vermiculation of suc- 
cessive, narrow, whitish, U-shaped bands‘ which gives the plum- 
age as a whole the appearance of being barred (Fig. 3, Plate I). 
It is to this feature that I wish to call especial attention. In three 
* These white bands are, of course, areas free from pigment and it is really the arrangement of the 
pigment between them that gives the characteristic appearance. Nevertheless, since there must be 
some positive inherent factor which causes them to remain unpigmented, they have been treated as posi- 
tive characters throughout the course of the present paper. 
