INHERITANCE OF PARTICULAR CHARACTERISTICS. 77 



white in their crests. The hybrids crossed back on the Minorca give nearly 

 100 per cent black heads. Black is dominant, but imperfectly so ; the nega- 

 tive characteristic is recessive. The dominant character is less perfectly 

 dominant in the female sex than in the male. 



COr.OR OF HACKI.es— HACKLE LACING. 



The color of the hackle feathers and the correlated saddle feathers in 

 birds of broken color usually differs from that of the rest of the plumage. 

 This peculiarity of the hackle coloration is an old character, since it is 

 exhibited by the Jungle fowl, and was probably in the ancestor of the 

 Aseel-Malay group. The feathers are laced with a lighter color than the 

 center. 



In crosses between Minorca and Dark Brahma, and White Leghorn and 

 Dark Brahma the solid color (black or white), the new, positive character- 

 istic, dominates over the lacing. Nevertheless, in the Minorca X Dark 

 Brahma hybrids the feathers of the nape are frequently faintly laced with 

 gray. The black is imperfect!}' dominant. 



WING COLOR— RED WING COVERTS. 



The male Jungle fowl has red on the upper wing coverts, and doubtless 

 the male of the ancestors of the Aseel-Malay group had also. 



The male hybrids between the Dark Brahma and the Black Minorca on 

 the one-hand and the White Leghorn on the other usually shovv' red on the 

 wing coverts, although there is no other red in the plumage. Red on the 

 wing coverts is probably dominant, but it is much reduced. 



TAIL COLOR. 



Although the tail feathers are derived from a distinct feather tract, and in 

 broken-colored birds are usually without the red of the wing, yet tail color 

 does not seem to be a unit character ; in inheritance it follows the rest of the 

 body plumage. On the other hand, in breeding buff varieties black persists 

 in the tail feathers longer than in the others. This case resembles the per- 

 sistence of black at the extremities of the legs of white or red rabbits 

 (Castle, 1905). 



.SHAFTING. 



The female Jungle fowl has a light shaft to the feather. The same is 

 true of the Tosa fowl and some Games. Light shafting is a primitive 

 characteristic of the female. 



In the female hybrids between the Tosa fowl and White Cochin the shaft- 

 ing is greatly broadened, and this is the principal modification of the plumage 

 color. In female hybrids of the Tosa fowl and Dark Brahmas the shafting 

 of the feathers of the back and wing coverts is striking, and some shafting 

 appears in two of the males, probably transferred from the female (p. 54). 

 Apparently shafting is dominant. 



