1908.] IXHERIXAXCE OF COLOUR IX PIGEOXS. 79 



showed a large patch of black feathers about the size of a five- 

 shilling piece at the I'oot of the neck. Another (No. 56) raised 

 in the same experiment had a few feathers on the rump edged 

 with black. These two bu^ds were mated together in Exp. 7. 



Testing the extracted Whites in F. 2. 



At the time it was considered desirable to test the extracted 

 Avhites only one was available, viz. that bred in Exp. 3. It was, 

 therefore, mated to a white Fantail. 



Exp. 6.— Extracted Wliite 2 -53 x White Fantail J 9. 



Four young were produced, all white with no coloured feathers. 



Exp. 7. — White birds with coloured feathers raised in Exp. 5 

 described above were mated together. 

 White with black feathers $ 56 x White with black 

 patch (^ 5. 

 Ten young were raised in this experiment, of which five showed 

 no coloured feathers ; one had one black feather on the rump 

 which was afterwards moulted out ; two had two feathers on the 

 rump edged with black ; and the remaining two had four and five 

 feathers respectively similarly edged with black. 



F. 3 Generation. 



A pair of black birds with some white feathers of the F. 2 

 generation raised in Exp. 5 were mated together in 1905, and the 

 experiment was repeated in 1907. In the intervening year the 

 birds were used for mating with blues in Exps. 28 & 31. 



Exp. 8.— F. 2 Black w. f. $ 106 x F. 2 Black w. f. S 6. 



This mating gave 2 blacks, 6 blacks with some white feathers, 

 3 blues with some white feathers, 1 white w4th some coloured 

 feathers, and 2 whites. Of the blacks with some white feathers, 

 one bird had only one white feather on the rump, another had 

 two white feathers on the thighs and three of the under tail- 

 coverts tipped with white. The remainder had white on the 

 head, neck, rump, vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts ; but one 

 bird had in addition 12 white flights, and 11 white tertiaries, 

 while another had some white flights and tertiaries and also 4 

 white tail-feathers. Of the blues with white feathers, one bird 

 had white on the rump only, the other two having white on the 

 head, neck, rump, vent, and thighs, one of them having in addi- 

 tion three white flights and two white tertiaries. The bird 

 described as white with some coloured feathers had thi^ee feathers 

 on the rump tipped with black. 



Exp. 9.— F. 2 Blue few white feathers $ 51 x F. 2 blue S 1. 

 These birds were raised in Exp. 3. 



Nine ofispring were reared from this mating, of which three 

 were blue with no white. The six others all showed white 

 feathers, four of them having white on the head and thi^oat, vent, 

 thighs, &c,, and some flight-feathers up to the number of ten as 



