INUKRITANCE OF FECUNDITY IN DOMESTIC EOWE. 345 



One of the five females ( 9 397) of class 4 actually laid 31 

 eggs in her winter period and hence was literally an 'Over 30' 

 bird. There can be no doubt, however, that this record is 

 merely a fluctuation, and that 9 397 is really a class 4 bird n^ 

 the constitution indicated. This is shown by her progeny. 



Matings of a Barred Plymouth Rock male of class i. Males 

 of class I are extremely interesting both from the theoretical 

 and the practical standpoint, since they are homozygous with 

 respect to the presence of both fecundity factors. In conse- 

 quence, all the daughters of any male of this class, regardless of 

 the females with which he is mated, should be high producers. 

 In the course of the experiments here under discussion only one 

 male of this type has been used in the breeding pens, and owing 

 to an unfortunate accident he was available for breeding only 

 during a single season. This $ no. 550 was a remarkably fine 

 and vigorous bird. He was easily the best bird, in respect to all 

 fancy and utility points, out of the hundreds of cockerels raised 

 the same year. He produced by the mating of a class 3 $ 

 ( $ 68, p. 000, supra) and a class i 9 . That is, 



(c^68) fL,L._. fkL, X fl,L, Pkk (5Ci6i) 

 ^^ 



fL,L,. fUL, 



This is a particularly interesting pedigree to anyone acquaint- 

 ed with the practical breeding and breeders of Barred Plymouth 

 Rocks in this country, because, as already pointed out, $ 68 

 was purchased from Mr. G. W. Hillson, of Amenia, N. Y. 

 Now it is generally supposed, and indeed has been stated by 

 Mr. Hillson in his advertising, that his stock was founded from 

 Mr. E. B. Thompson's 'Ringlet' strain, a stock very well known 

 for ciuality in color and barring, but not commonly believed to 

 be of any particular value for utility purposes. Yet here we 

 have produced from this strain a male bird of the highest pos- 

 sible utility value, namely one that gets high-producing daugh- 

 ters regularly and without fail, regardless of the females to 

 which he may be mated. 



The breeding history of $ 550 is as follows: 



Matings: A. With 5S J 9 indicated to be classes i or 2-=fLJ,2 Pkh 

 or /LjLj. PL^k. 



