THE WHITE LEGHORN 



A Masquerader Who Conceals Many Colors and Patterns Under Her Pure 



White Plumage — Results of Genetic Breeding — Need for New 



"Standard of Perfection" Telling Not How Fowls Ought 



to Look, but How They Ought to Breed. 



Philip B. Hadley 



Division oj Animal Breeding and Pathology, Agrictdtural Experiment Station 



of the Rhode Island State College, Kingston, R. I. 



NOTWITHSTANDING the many 

 years that several varieties 

 of poultry have been bred, the 

 fact remains that we are still 

 ignorant of the actual constitution of 

 practically all of them, so far as the 

 character-complex is concerned. Al- 

 though many breeds have been evolved, 

 and poultrymen refer to these breeds 

 by names which have become stand- 

 ardized through many countries, it must 

 be granted that these breed-names are 

 practically meaningless to the genetist; 

 and in so far as they carry any implica- 

 tion other than that of the appearance 

 of the breed, they are also quite as 

 meaningless to the poultryman. An 

 example of what is meant is to be found 

 in the case of that variety of fowl 

 ordinarily called the White Leghorn, 

 of somewhat uncertain origin. 



The White Leghorn, which at present 

 happens to be one of the most popular 

 breeds, is ordinarily a pure white bird 

 without pattern or markings, the beak 

 and shanks being yellow. No other 

 pigment is manifested. The eye is 

 ordinarily bay. The white plumage 

 color, unlike that of most white breeds, 

 is a dominant white; that is, in crosses 

 with black breeds the black is recessive. 

 So long as the White Leghorns are 

 bred among themselves, no other charac- 

 ters appear. Properly devised cross- 

 breeding, however, tells a different 

 story, and it is the aim of this paper to 

 review briefly the results of experi- 

 mental studies which demonstrate 

 what sort of a bird the White Leghorn 

 really is with respect to some of her 

 breeding capabilites. 



If a White Leghorn male is mated 

 with a self-colored black like the Black 

 Hamburg, Black Minorca, Black Span- 

 ish, or Black Langshan, the first genera- 

 tion progeny are commonly white. 

 Close inspection, however, will reveal 

 in the feathers of most of the birds 

 minute flecks of black. Sometimes 

 these are large enough to amount to 

 actual splashes and occasionally one 

 may find in the wing coverts or tail a 

 feather which has several bars near the 

 tip. All the birds are, however, mainly 

 white. The Leghorn white is dominant 

 over black. 



THE SECOND GENERATION. 



If, now, these Fi birds are mated 

 together, Fo gives something of a 

 variety of colors and markings. Among 

 every sixteen adult birds, twelve are 

 white and four are dark colored. The 

 dark colored birds are found to include 

 three that are barred and one that is 

 black. Of the barred birds, two are 

 males and one is a female. The one 

 black individual in the sixteen is always 

 a female. The barred birds are usually 

 fully barred, but the character of the 

 barring is inferior to that of the standard 

 Barred Plymouth Rocks. The bars are 

 less regular and the background is likely 

 to be gray or smoky. There is, however, 

 no question regarding the fact of the 

 barring. One of these barred birds 

 together with its parents and grand- 

 parents (White Leghorn and Black 

 Hamburg) are shown in some of the 

 figures accompanying this article. 



The question at once arises — What is 

 the origin of this barred pattern which 



147 



