POULTRY NOTe;S — 1909. 87 



source; of bree;ding stock use;d. 



In regard to the stock used in the experiments (obviously 

 a matter of the highest importance in all Mendelian experi- 

 mentation) the following may be said: The Barred Plymouth 

 Rock stock used was that which has been bred at this Station 

 for many years. The general breeding history of these birds 

 is known for a period of more than 25 years. For a period of 

 nearly ten years before the present experiments were begun 

 they had been "line-bred," i. e., no new "blood" had been intro- 

 duced into the flock from outside. The Cornish Indian Game 

 foundation stock was reared from eggs purchased from Mr. W. 

 S. Templeton, of Illinois, who is conceded by American poultry 

 fanciers generally to have a strain of Cornish fowls of a high 

 degree of excellence. The source of this stock gives assurance 

 that it is strictly "pure-bred" in the fancier's sense, and fur- 

 thermore is of superior cjuality as judged by the fancier. This 

 stock, in other words, carries the characters which belong to 

 the breed in their typical condition. 



THE COLOR OF THF HYBRIDS. 



The inheritance of color and color pattern in these hybrids 

 has already been discussed in detail in another paper.* It will 

 therefore not be necessary here to do more than outline the gen- 

 eral facts regarding color inheritance, referring the reader to 

 the paper cited for details. The essential facts are as follows :^ 



When the mating is to the type 



Barred Plymouth Rock male x ConiisJi Iiidiaji Game female 

 the offspring are all barred, regardless of their sex. 



When, on the other hand, the mating is of the type 



Cornish Indian Game male x Barred Plymouth Rock female 

 the male chicks resulting from the cross are barred, and the 

 female chicks are not barred but instead are solid black in color. 



The character of the different kinds of hybrid birds obtained 

 is shown in Fig. yy. This shows a hybrid male and barred and 

 black hybrid females. 



The actual numbers of the diff'erent kinds of adult hybrid 

 birds obtained in the experiments are given in the following- 

 table, which is condensed from the more complete tables given 

 in the detailed paper {loc. cit.) 



*PearI, R., and Surface, F. ^I. loc. cit. 



