MORGAN AND GOOD ALE, INHERITANCE IN POULTRY 125 



breeding tests. Gray would, therefore, appear to be a sex-linked charac- 

 ter. In F 2 , however, the results would appear peculiar, for while Ave 

 should have the three classes of black, gray and yellow shanks, the black 

 shanks would always appear associated with black birds, while gray and 

 yellow shanks would go with barred birds. This conclusion does not 

 agree with the results expected when two independent sex-linked char- 

 acters are involved. In F 3 , the observed results would be very compli- 

 cated. A discussion of the various possible explanations which might be 

 devised to meet the situation would hardly be profitable here, but a com- 

 parison of the results expected when the color of the soles of the feet is 

 taken into account with those when they are omitted may furnish the 

 key to similar cases. 



Booting. — The Barred Eocks are typically clean shanked, but occa- 

 sionally a bird is found with a few "stubs." The boot of the Langshan 

 corresponds approximately to that shown in many of the older pictures 

 of Cochins and Brahmas and may perhaps be regarded as the primitive 

 type from which the modern highly developed boot of Cochins has" been 

 developed. 



For the Fi generation, booting was recorded on the chicks as "present" 

 in all cases but two. These two occur among the first four recorded, so 

 that it is possible that, if only a few stubs were present, they may have 

 been regarded as slightly atypical clean shanks. In one other case, boot- 

 ing was nearly absent. Of the 13 adults, the three males and four barred 

 females were alike in that the amount of booting was decidedly scanty, 

 being reduced to about two or three imperfect rows of rather short 

 feathers. The six black females were more variable, due apparently to 

 greater variation in length of feather rather than to variation in the 

 number of rows, the result being a greater variation in amount of boot. 



A much larger range in the amount of booting appeared in the next 

 generation. The following relative grades of boot in the chicks were 

 recognized : A, B, C, D, E and absent. No emphasis is to be laid on 

 these degrees, except in so far as they show the general distribution of 

 boot. A and B correspond approximately to that of the parental Lang- 

 shan, and C and D to that of the F x hybrids. Among the adults, not 

 only were there some birds heavily booted like the Langshans, some like 

 the hybrid and others clean-shanked like the Eocks, but one bird had two 

 rows of rather long feathers and one bird four rows of short feathers, 

 indicating that there is more than one component to boot. 



