A HEN THAT CROWED 



1 



This BulT ()r]nngUm lien, hatched at the Bureau of Animal Industry experimeiilal larni, Belts- 

 ville, Md., began to lay on November 16 of that year and was trap-nested until November, 

 1914. In that period she laid 110 ej^gs, the lastone on August 3, 1914, at which time she 

 began to moult. Following the moult she began to dcv^elop the secondary sexual char- 

 acters of the male; the tail feathers changed in appearance, the comb increased in size, the 

 head came to ]'>i>k more like that of a cock, and the legs took on the redness characteristic 

 of the male BufT (Jrjjingt(jn. She was observed to crow several times; she occasionally 

 visiterl the nest but never laid an egg. The above photograph from the U. S. Department 

 of Agriculture was taken not long before she was killed, August 26, 1915, as the result of a 

 general break-down of her health. Dissection showed no evidence of any development of 

 male reproductive organs, but disclosed a large tumor on the ovary. It is a good hypothe- 

 sis that this growth, by inhibiting the secretions connected with femaleness, had allowed 

 the male characters to become ai)i)arent; for there is reason to believe that every fowl has 

 the potential ability to develoj) the characters of either sex. (Frontisi)iece.) 



