INHERITANCE OF SILKINESS 

 IN FOWLS' 



History and Description of the Sporadic Occurrence of Silky Feathered Birds 

 Among Normally Feathered Ones, and Their Relation 



Sarah V. H. Jones 

 University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wis. 



IN THE summer of 1917 the writer's 

 attention was called to a hen (No. lA 

 in Fig. 9), chiefly of unpedigreed 

 Browm Leghorn breeding, judging by 

 appearance, but with plumage resem- 

 bling that of the Silky Fowl. The 

 individuals of the flock from which 

 she came were normally-feathered, 

 scrub fowls resembling Brown Leg- 

 horns and Rhode Island Reds. The 

 appearance of such an unusual individ- 

 ual was particularly interesting, since 

 so far as the owner knew there was no 

 Silky blood in the flock. It seems, 

 furthermore, unlikely that a fancy 

 breed like the Silky would ever have 

 been used in the establishment of such 

 a utility flock. 



A casual examination of this bird 

 (lA, Fig. 9) showed the body covered 

 with down-like feathers, resembling 

 those of the true Silky. According 

 to Tegetmeier (1873, p. 45) the silky 

 condition is due to the lack of hooks on 

 the barbules, and this has been con- 

 firmed by examination of wing coverts 

 from lA and from a pure bred Silky 

 cock (4A). The same condition was 

 found to obtain in the down feathers of 

 a normal White Rock hen and in the 

 basal fluff of the ordinary contour 

 feathers. Silkiness is therefore nor- 

 mally present to this extent in all 

 birds, but is developed to the extreme 

 in these abnormal cases. In lA the 

 flight and tail feathers were badly 

 frayed, the shafts appearing almost 

 bare. 



This abnormal condition of the 

 flight feathers of lA obviously made a 



1 Papers from the Department of Genetics, Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 consin, No. 27. Published with the approval of the Director of the Station. 

 - This bird's toes had been frozen off before she was obtained. 



The writer wishes to express her gratitude to Professor L. J. Cole for his helpful suggestions, and to 

 Professor J. G. Halpin and Mr. O. N. Johnson of the Poultry Department of this Station, not only 

 for the use of incubators and brooders necessary for carrying on the breeding work above described, 

 but also for their personal assistance. 



117 



close comparison of them with the 

 corresponding feathers of individuals 

 of the breed of Silky Fowl impossible. 

 A comparison of the degrees of silkiness 

 of the wing coverts obtaining in the four 

 birds showed many of lA's to be nor- 

 mal as were also those of the purebred 

 Silky cock 20A, while all of the wing 

 coverts of 4A and 5A were silky. 



The plumage structure of lA was her 

 only resemblance to individuals of the 

 Silky breed since she lacked blue or 

 black skin, a topknot, rose comb, 

 feathers on her legs and presumably 

 supernumerary toes,- which features 

 are as characteristic of the standard 

 Silky Fowl as is the peculiar feather 

 structure. 



TRUE VARIETIES OF THE SILKY FOWL 



AND THE SPORADIC OCCURRENCE OF 



SILKY FEATHERED BIRDS AMONG 



NORMALLY FEATHERED ONES 



The Silky Fowl, according to Daven- 

 port (1906), dates back to the thir- 

 teenth century when Marco Polo is 

 said to have observed it in Asia. 

 Davenport (1906) and Tegetmeier 

 (1873) both state that Gessner de- 

 scribed it about 1555. Taubert (1910), 

 however, mentions no descriptions of 

 this breed of poultry earlier than that 

 of Aldrovandus in 1597. Taubert also 

 gives a historical sketch of the modern 

 Silky Fowl up to the present time. 

 Suffice it to say for present purposes, 

 however, that breeds and individuals 

 with the so-called silky plumage have 

 been described by old and modern 

 writers on poultry. 



University of Wis- 



