124 



The Journal of Heredity 



A NORMALLY FEATHERED CROSSBRED HEN 



This hen with noniiai feathers was the result of crossing the sporadic silky hen lA (see Fig. 9) 

 back to the latter's son 3F\ (Fig. llj. Silky feathered birds were also obtained from this cross. 

 The ratio, as expected, was 1 :1. (Fig. 14.) 



with normal feathers and 6 with silk\-, 

 which corresponds exactly to expecta- 

 tion, 



A summation of the resulls of Bale- 

 son and Punnett, riiniiin^ham, and 

 Bonhote gixes 102 norinal-phnna^ed 

 birds to ,11 silk>' in the 1% generation, 

 the expectation on a 3:1 basis beinj^; 

 99.75 to .?.?.25. Thr character of the 

 plumage of the purebred Silk\- Fowl 

 is, then, obviously a simple Mendel iaii 

 recessive. 



RELATION OF THK SI'OKADIC SII.Kv's 

 ri,r.M.\(iK TO NOR.M.M. I'LIM.VCW': 



In order to determine the relation of 

 (In- i)lumage of lA to that of normal 

 plumage, this hen was crossed in 1917 

 with a i)iirebred White Leghorn co<'k. 

 Tin- st'Ii'ction of this breed was entireK' 

 ■ irliilrar\. ( )f ten chicks hatched (ml\- 



three were successfulK' reared. One of 

 them proved to be a cock and the other 

 two hens. Their plumage was normal 

 like that of their sire. Figures 5 and 6 

 show the Fi cock and one of the hens. 

 The ragged appearance of the hen's 

 tail is due to a dishe\elled condition and 

 not to abnormal feather structure. 



The ff)llf)wing year an F.. generation 

 was obtaine^l. The two birds just 

 mentioned were mated and produced 

 40 chicks, 29 of which ha<l normal 

 |)lumage and 11 silk\- (M) to 10 ex- 

 pected). Two of the F.. silkies are 

 shr)wn as Xos. 10 and 1 1 in Figs. 13 and 

 l.S. The other l', mating ga\e but vS 

 chicks on which featlu-r condition 

 could I)',' detennini'd. These all had 

 normal plumage. .Adtling ihem to 

 ihc al)o\e figures, the result gi\es 34 



