Atavism in Guinea-Chicken Hybrids 727 
of the fowls the general ground color is blackish and the vermicu- 
lations white, in the other two there is much of a reddish-brown 
or chestnut tinge to many of the feathers, involving also to some 
extent the whitish bands so that there is less contrast in the color 
markings (Fig. 4, Plate I; Fig. 9, Plate III). 
These five guinea-chicken hybrids, however, are not the exclu- 
sive possessors of this curious pattern, for at the Museum d’His- 
toire Naturelle in Paris, there is a guinea-chicken hybrid, which 
bears a very similar white vermiculation on many feathers of the 
back, ventral surface, and sides (Fig. 13, Plate III) although the 
fowl itself has more feathers which are entirely white. ‘This 
hybrid was donated to the Paris museum in 1854 by the London 
Zoological Society. It differs from all similar hybrids that I have 
seen, in the possession of a conspicuous beard of white feathers 
extending from ear to ear across the front of the throat. “The 
feathers on the top and back of the head, and on the back and sides 
of the neck are for the most part black and beyond being more 
plentiful they do not differ essentially from those of the other 
hybrids. ‘The throat, in front, bears some white and some red- 
dish brown feathers. Since there is no record of the breed of 
chicken used in making the cross it seems useless to speculate on 
the origin of the remarkable beard beyond suggesting that it is 
possibly derived from an individual of one of the breeds of chick- 
ens which are similarly bearded. A fuller description of this 
hybrid including a photograph has been given elsewhere.° 
After viewing these various hybrids, the first question to arise 
is concerning the origin of this pattern of white U-shaped vermicu- 
lations common to them all. Manifestly it cannot be derived 
directly from that of either of the immediate parents, in the five 
individuals of which the parentage is known, since the cock is 
wholly black and the guinea spotted, although the latter may show 
some barring on certain of the feathers. 
Turning to ancestral species we find that the common chicken 
is in all probability a domesticated form of the red jungle fowl 
of India, Gallus ferrugineus, to which our common black-breasted 
5 Guyer, M. F.: La Livrée du Plumage chez les Hybrides de Pintade et de Poule. Bul. Muséum 
histoire naturelle, Paris, Februarv, 1909. 
