JtlORGAX AND GOOD ALE, INHERITANCE IX POULTRY 123 



Shank Color. — The color of the shanks of all chicks hatched was re- 

 corded, but the color often changes as the birds become older, so these 

 records prove to be of small value. The change in shank color is 

 particularly characteristic for the class called yellowish or flesh-colored 

 black. This class may give rise to all three of the adult shank colors, 

 recognized, black, gray and yellow. Black-shanked chicks seem always 

 to develop into black-shanked adults, and while yellow-shanked chicks 

 probably do not produce black-shanked adults, they may give rise to 

 either yellow or gray-shanked adults. 



The infantile shanks among the F 2 not only show the expected classes,, 

 but these classes pass by imperceptible grades into one another. Fre- 

 quently, one part of the shank, particularly the toes, differs from the: 

 remainder ; while, in many cases, the distribution of color forms a mottled 

 pattern. The distribution of color upon the toes is likewise extremely 

 variable and often asymmetrical. In almost every case, however, some 

 part of the toes is flesh or yellow. This variation is due, presumably, to 

 some extension or restriction factor. Similar variation in the distribu- 

 tion of color in F x was also recorded. 



The shank color of the F x adults falls into two classes, black and gray. 

 The term gray is used rather loosely to cover a particular though some- 

 what variable coloration of the shanks. At a distance, the shanks do 

 indeed appear gray just as a Barred Bock appears gray, and just as the 

 "gray" of the Bocks resolves into a pattern on closer inspection, so the 

 gray of the shanks is not a single or uniform color. For convenience of 

 description, Ave may say that the ground color is steel gray, variously 

 mottled with patches of darker gray or of black. Farts of the shank 

 often have a bluish cast. The posterior side and particularly the bottoms 

 of the feet are somewhat flesh colored. Mottling does not as a rule occur 

 on the bottom of the feet, so that though the term gray is applied to them 

 in a later paragraph, it is to be understood that they do not have the 

 same appearance on the shanks proper but rather are a grayish flesh, self 

 color. The three classes of black, gray and yellow do not grade into each 

 other. 



The six F x black females had black shanks. The three males and the 

 four barred females had gray shanks. Apparently, we have here a case 

 of sex-linked inheritance. This, however, may not be the case but may 

 be due rather to the black spreading over onto the shanks just as it often 

 spreads over onto the comb. In the barred birds, we may suppose that 

 the barring factor operates to prevent the spreading of black over the 

 shanks, just as it also produces the characteristic barring of the feathers 

 of the boot. Thus, the colors hypostatic to black are revealed. However- 



