1908.] INHERITANCE OF COLOUR IN PIGEONS. 103 



and Blue birds with or without white feathers, on the other hand, 

 have beaks of types 1 or 2, there being some black present in the 

 beaks. Five exceptions, however, occurred ; these were blue birds 

 with a large amount of white in the plumage, having white beaks 

 a,nd claws. In the Barb-Nun cross the beaks and claws of the 

 birds in the F. 1 generation were black. In F. 2 four birds were 

 produced having white beaks tipped with black and some white 

 claws. The remaining birds of the F. 2 generation had beaks and 

 claws black. In the Tumbler- Fantail cross the beaks were white 

 with the exception of a bird in F. 2 (Xo. 14, Exp. 44), which had 

 the lower mandible tinged blackish. The claws were white 

 throughout. The general conclusion is that pigment in the beak, 

 and to some extent in the claws, is correlated with certain types 

 of plumage. Acting thus it is allelomorphic to white, and is a 

 simple Mendelian dominant. 



Eye- WATTLES OR Ceres. 



In the Barb the eye-wattle is large. It increases in size with 

 age, and has been seen measuring one inch in diameter. It 

 presents the appearance of a series of naked nodules of skin 

 arranged in two or three concentric rows. In colour it is bright 

 red. In the three other varieties used in these crosses the wattles 

 are very small. In colour those of the white Fantail and white 

 Tumbler are white or pale flesh-coloured, that of the Nun blackish. 

 In size the wattles of the F. 1 genei'ation from a Barb were 

 intermediate ; some large wattles were observed in the F. 2 and 

 subsequent generations, but these never assumed the proportions 

 of those of the pui-e Barb. It was noticed that these large 

 wattles were always red, but they were present on birds having 

 black, blue, or white plumage. 



Observations on the colour of the wattles of birds in the Barb- 

 Fantail crosses have been somewhat complicated by the fact that 

 many birds, which were subsequently seen to have red wattles, 

 when young showed wattles of a yellowish colour which were 

 scarcely distinguishable from the flesh-coloured wattles of the 

 Fantail. The general result, however, appears to be that red is a 

 simple dominant over flesh-colour. In the F. 2 generation one 

 blackish wattle was obtained, and some others were found in the 

 further generations. In one experiment birds possessing these 

 wattles were mated together, with the result that offspring 

 showing all these kinds of wattles were produced. Occasionally 

 birds with wattles coloured partly red and partly black, or partly 

 white and partly black, were px'oduced. Whether these wattles 

 would have changed their colour later in life cannot be stated. 



The colour of the wattles in the Barb-Nun cross is not very 

 clear. Birds of the F. 1 generation had blackish wattles with, in 

 one or two cases, a little red at the periphery. In F. 2 some birds 

 with red wattles were obtained, two with white wattles, and some 

 with mixed wattles. Little reliance, however, can be placed on 



