A FOWL WITH HORNS 
Here is a Wyandotte cock with well-developed horns on each side of the head. They are 
similar in character to the spurs which regularly grow on males of the domestic fowl, and are 
attached to the skin only, having no connection with the skull. The horns are about 1 inch 
in circumference at the base; the straighter one is 2 inches long and the curved one 3 inches long. 
The bird was raised by Dominic Lynch of 1934 Ruan Street, Philadelphia, Pa., and killed 
last Thanksgiving. The head came into the possession of Charles H. McLaughlin, 1500 North 
Alden Street, Philadelphia, who brought it to the office of the JouRNAL oF HEREDITY, and 
furnished the data about it. He had it mounted by David N. McCadden, of the Academy of 
Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. 
From the point of view of development, these horns are merely medified feathers, which 
in turn are, like the cock’s spurs, merely modified scales of the skin. It is difficult to 
explain why these spurs should have appeared on the bird’s head, but there seems to be no reason 
why they should not do so. On the other hand, it is conceivable that such horns might be 
produced artificially by grafting spur tissue on the fowl’s head when it was young. Mr. 
McLaughlin asserts that these horns are wholly a natural growth. The taxidermist who 
mounted the head writes that they appeared to be a natural growth, consisting merely of modi- 
fied feathers. Such a growth is to be considered merely a freak, and probably would not be 
inherited. (Fig. 5.) 
