INHEEITANCE OF PLUMAGE COLOR IN CROSSES 

 OF BUFF AND COLUMBIAN FOWLS 



DR. L. C. DUra^ 



As a part of a search for material suitable for use in 

 measuring the linkage strength of several sex-linked 

 characters in poultry, some preliminary experiments have 

 been undertaken on the inheritance of the Columbian plu- 

 mage pattern. The results of these experiments have 

 confirmed those of Sturtevant (1912) in establishing the 

 sex-linked nature of one of the genes involved in the pro- 

 duction of this pattern, and have demonstrated the rela- 

 tionship between it and the buff plumage coloration. The 

 inheritance and somatic effects of the chief factor in- 

 volved appear to be clear enough to make it useful in 

 genetic investigations on poultry. A short description of 

 the experimental results is therefore given here, to be 

 followed by a more detailed report when further evidence 

 is at hand. 



The Columbian pattern, sometimes known as the Er- 

 mine coloration, is characteristic of several standard 

 varieties of a number of breeds of poultry of which the 

 Light Brahma, the Columbian Plymouth Rock and the 

 Columbian Wyandotte are perhaps the most familiar. 

 Although subject to some variation the pattern consists 

 in general of a pure white surface color in all parts of the 

 plumage except in the hackles, wings, and' tail feathers, 

 in which black is present either as a central stripe (hac- 

 kles) ; as a solid color covering somewhat more than half 

 the feather (primaries) or as a solid color covering the 

 whole feather (tail). In typical Columbian fowls the 

 undercolor or fluff at the base of the body feathers is 

 generally lead or slate, which is sometimesi so pronounced 

 as to show through at the surface especially on the back. 



1 Contributions in Poultry Genetics, Storrs Agr. Exp. Station. 

 242 



