TOSA FOWL AND WHITE COCHIN. 



49 



SECOND GENERATION. Two hybrid cocks, Nos. 53 (fig. 34) and 95 (fig. 

 35), were successively bred to their sisters, Nos. 58 (fig. 33), 94, 96, and 98. 



RESULTS. 



i . GENERAL PLUMAGE COLOR. First hybrid generation. Of 7 offspring, 

 3 cocks and 3 hens developed their adult plumage. The males were all of the 

 male Tosa-fowl coloration except that every feather was repeatedly barred 

 with white (figs. 34, 35, 37A). The females were all of the female Tosa-fowl 

 coloration except that the shafting was much broadened (fig. 37) ; also the 

 saddle feathers and the proximal secondaries were obscurely barred black - 

 and-buff. 



Second hybrid generation. Among 57 individuals we have the following 

 distribution of plumage color : 



The original white color has reappeared in about one-fourth of the cases 

 (fig. 38) ; plumage color segregates in the germ cells of the first hybrid 

 generation in true Mendelian fashion. Of the 16 whites, only 5 were without 

 trace of reddish pigment. Such pigment occurred on the breast, top of 

 head, and remiges. The purity of the germ cells from which these whites 

 sprang the completeness of segregation is not always perfect. 



The 41 pigmented individuals show a curiously mixed lot of coloration. 

 Of 14 mature females, 6 are like the female Tosa fowl, without barring, but 

 sometimes with wider shafting than male Tosa fowl. The remainder have 

 feathers of the back and wing coverts barred with lighter, even with white 

 a condition not found in the female first hybrids. One of these (No. 659) 

 shows a mixture of female Tosa and female Partridge Cochin coloration. As 

 no Partridge Cochin is involved in the immediate ancestry, this looks like a 

 ' ' reversion ; ' ' the characteristic has probably lain latent in the White 

 Cochin. Of 10 males, two show no trace of white, and may, consequently, 

 be considered as homozygous. The remainder are more or less barred with 

 white. One bird (No. 646) shows a remarkable mixture of Tosa and male 

 Partridge Cochin coloration. 



2. TAIL LENGTH. First hybrid generation. All the three males reared 

 developed abnormally long middle tail feathers. One of these birds died 

 young. The second bird (No. 53, fig. 34) lived to be exactly one year old. 

 Its sickles were 427 mm. long and had stopped growing. It had suffered a 

 severe paralytic stroke four months before its death. The remaining cock 

 (No. 95, fig. 35) had at n} months sickle feathers 360 mm. long and still 

 growing. These feathers had thus grown at a rate of about i mm. a day, or 

 4 



