Atavism in Guinea-Chicken H ybrids 729 
moreover, in mongrels of our barnyard fowls.* It is a well recog- 
nized fact, indeed, among breeders that this fundamental reddish 
cast of feather is a very difficult one to breed out of fowls entirely.’ 
It is possible, furthermore, that the black neck-feathering of 
a number of pronounced hybrids which I have examined, such as 
guinea-chicken, peacock-chicken, and pheasant-chicken, all of 
which are males, is a return to a condition similar to that found 
on the neck of the male of Gallus ferrugineus from June to 
September. 
But granting that in the respects just enumerated there is a 
resemblance to the wild type of Gallus ferrugineus, still this sheds 
no light upon what we have recognized as the most striking char- 
acteristic of the plumage of the guinea-chicken hybrids; namely, 
the distinctive white vermiculations of the feathers. 
Before taking up a discussion of this feature it will be necessary 
to recall a few points in the systematic relationships of certain 
members of the family Phasianidze. ‘There are, according to 
Evans,’ really three distinct sub-families of this group: (1) The 
Numidinz or guinea-fowls; (2) the Meleagrine or turkeys; and 
(3) the Phasianinz or pheasants (including domestic fowls and 
peafowls), partridges and grouse although for convenience the 
partridges and grouse are ordinarily set apart as distinct groups. 
It will be seen from this classification that, inasmuch as the guinea 
parent of the hybrids under discussion belong to one sub-family 
and the other parent to another, a guinea-chicken hybrid is a 
more pronounced cross than a hybrid between peafowl and chick- 
en, or pheasant and chicken, to say nothing of hybrids between 
the various kinds of pheasants in the more restricted sense. 
In the sub-family Phasianinz is found an interesting group 
known as the peacock pheasants (Polyplectron) which is regarded 
by systematists® as intermediate between the peafowls and the 
pheasants (including Gallus) in the narrower meaning of the 
6 Ewart, J. C.: The Pennyicuk Experiments, 1899. Darwin, Ch.: Animals and Plants under 
Domestication. - 
7 Tegetmeier, W. B.: On the Principal Modern Breeds of the Domestic Fowl The Ibis. Sixth Series, 
vol. ii, 1890. 
8 Evans, A. H. The Cambridge Natural History; Birds vol. ix, p. 198, 1899. 
* Grant, W. R. Ogilvie: Birds in the Dept. of Zodl., British Museum, p. 22, 1905. 
