290 DISEASES OF POULTRY. 



known among the agriculturists and sportsmen of the 

 south, who bred a game cock, in Madison county, Vir- 

 ginia, which, in 1821, was a bluish-grey. In 1822, he 

 was still grey. In 1823, he was milk-white, or 

 " smock," as the English term it. In 1824, he had 

 changed to sky-blue. 



We are told by M. Reaumur, that one of his hens 

 which his poultry woman distinguished from the rest 

 by a crooked claw, when her coat began to be' taken 

 notice of, had feathers of a ruddy color mixed with the 

 brown so common among dunghill fowls. A year after- 

 wards, this hen was observed to become almost black, 

 with here and there some large white spots. After the 

 second moulting, black was the predominant color on 

 every part of the body ; but strange to tell, upon the 

 succeeding moult, white was the predominant color, and 

 only a few black patches about the size of a dollar 

 could be observed. Upon the succeeding moult, all the 

 black spots disappeared, and the hen became uniformly 

 of a pure white like that of a swan. As she was at this 

 lime old for a fowl, that is, not less than ten years, it 

 might be thought that old age, which whitens the human 

 hair, likewise whitens the feathers of certain birds ; but, 

 in that case, M. Reaumur says, the transition from the 

 ruddy to the white ought not to have been made, as it 

 really was, through the black ; and he was of opinion, as 

 the hen was still vigorous and healthy, that she might 

 again change her color, if she lived, to brown or black. 



The same author makes some interesting remarks on a 

 cock which he observed with more attention than the 

 hen, so as to establish proofs, that the white colors of 

 the feathers were not, at least in that instance, caused by 

 age. The owner of the cock was struck, the first time 

 he moulted, with the singular change in His color ; and 

 for five successive moults, there was always a consider- 

 able change of color. In his first year, he had some 

 ruddy-brown, mixed with white, so common in dunghill 

 cocks ; in the second, he was all over ruddy-brown, or 

 rather red, without any white ; in the third, he became 

 uniformly black; in the fourth, uniformly white; and in 

 the fifth, when he was presented by the prior of Bury to 



