.tons* 



Chap. VII. REVERSION AND ANALOGOUS VARIATION. 241 



with brownish-black, and this again broadly bordered with 

 very pale yellowish-brown ; so that in general appearance the 

 plumage had become pale-coloured instead of black. In this 

 case, with advancing age there was a great change, but no 

 reversion to the red colour of Cf. banhiva. 



A cock with a regular rose comb derived either from the 

 spangled or pencilled silver Hamburgh was likewise at first 

 quite black ; but in less than a year the neck-hackles, as in the 

 last case, became whitish, whilst those on the loins assumed a 

 decided reddish-yellow tint ; and here we see the first symptom 

 of reversion; this likewise occurred with some other young 

 cocks, which need not here be described. It has also been 

 recorded 29 by a breeder, that he crossed two silver-pencilled 

 Hamburgh hens with a Spanish cock, and reared a number of 

 chickens, all of which were black, the cocks having golden and 

 the hens brownish hackles; so that in this instance likewise 

 there was a clear tendency to reversion. 



Two young cocks from my white Game hen were at first snow 

 white ; of these, one subsequently assumed pale orange-coloured 

 hackles, chiefly on the loins, and the other an abundance of fine 

 orange-red hackles on the neck, loins, and upper wing-coverts. 

 Here again we have a more decided, though partial, reversion to 

 the colours of Gr. banhiva. This second cock was in fact coloured 

 like an inferior " pile Game cock ;" — now this sub-breed can be 

 produced, as I am informed by Mr. Tegetmeier, by crossing a 

 black-breasted red Game cock with a white Game hen, and 

 the " pile " sub-breed thus produced can afterwards be truly pro- 

 pagated. So that we have the curious fact of the glossy-black 

 Spanish cock and the black-breasted red Game cock when 

 crossed with white Game-hens producing offspring of nearly the 

 same colours. 



I reared several birds from the white Silk-hen by the Spanish 

 cock : all were coal-black, and all plainly showed their parentage 

 in having blackish combs and bones ; none inherited the so-called 

 silky feathers, and the non-inheritance of this character has 

 been observed by others. The hens never varied in their 

 plumage. As the young cocks grew old, one of them assumed 

 yellowish-white hackles, and thus resembled in a considerable 



- 9 ' Journal of Horticulture,' Jan. 14th, 1862, p. 325 

 VOL.1. • 



