R. C. PUNNETT AND THE LATE MaJOR P. G. BaILEY 289 



fig. 5), and was never observed to go broody during the four years she 

 was kept. Mated with a Hamburgh cT this hen produced among other 

 birds f^ 35/15. He was mated with % 487/13, a black broody F.^ ex Lang- 

 shan % X Brown Leghorn ^ , and a layer of deeply tinted eggs (PI. IX. 

 fig. 2)^ Two of the male offspring, as shown in the accompanying 

 pedigree, were mated with hens belonging to a pure non-broody strain ^ 



Langshan $ x Hamburgh ^ Langshan $ x Br. Legh. ^ 



$ 64/12 X <J 908/12 



$ 250/13 X Hamburgh ^ -Fi ? x Fi (J 



I I 



(J 35/15 X ? 487/13 



(J 44^16 c? 271/16 



Of the daughters of j/* 44, 13 were tested for broodiness, and all were 

 found to be non-broody. Of the 16 daughters of ^ 271 that were 

 tested two became broody. This cock, with a father extracted from the 

 Hamburgh cross and with a broody mother, recalls in its behaviour the 

 ^1 Hamburgh-Langshan. For both of them appear to produce but a 

 small proportion of gametes which give rise to broody daughters. We 

 are inclined to think that (/ 44 was of the same nature, and that he 

 would have produced an occasional broody daughter had it been possible 

 to rear more birds from him. It is tempting to suggest that the 

 Hamburgh may have been carrying a factor, or factors, tending to 

 inhibit the development of the broody habit ; but to decide this point 

 far more ample experiments are required. 



Mention may be made here of some experiments undertaken with 

 the Silky fowl in which this breed was crossed with the Brown Leghorn 

 (Bateson and Punnett, 1911). The ^i birds, as is usual in Silky crosses, 

 were all markedly broody, nor did there appear to be any difference 

 between those that had a Silky mother and those whose father was a 

 Silky. Of about 24 F^ pullets which were kept for a year or more all 

 except one became broody. This low proportion suggests that the 

 manifestation of broodiness, particularly where the character is well 

 marked, may depend upon more than one factor. Should this turn out 



1 The experiment was part of a series designed to establish a non-broody strain laying 

 a deeply tinted egg. Owing to conditions brought about by the war it had to be abandoned 

 though we have little doubt from our general experience that the object could have been 

 achieved. 



2 Extracted from a Hamburgh-Brown Leghorn cross, and belonging to a strain in 

 which no sign of broodiness ever appeared. 



