No. 613] INHERITANCE IN FAX TAIL PIGEON 



The tail also is peculiar, and quite uncommon. It is long and com- 



the two top ones, diverging a little outwards, show a slight division in 

 the tail, but there is not the slightest affinity or resemblance to a " fan " 

 tail, as some might suppose by the excessive number of feathers, but 

 it is a distinct peculiarity of this breed (12 being the normal number 

 of tail-quills in most pigeons). The greater the number of quills in 

 "Oriental Rollers" the more the specimens are valued. A further 

 singular feature noticeable in the tails of these birds is that occasionally 

 two feathers may be found growing from one quill, separating at its 

 Mitliy junction as a twin feather, each rather narrower than ordinarily, 

 but of the usual length, and not outgrown, or causing a disordered 

 formation of the tail (p. 195). 



... The tail is the other chief point in the English breed. The 

 feathers should lie flat and evenly over one another (none of them 

 being set edgeways), so as to form a neat double row. In number they 

 should not be less than 28, but as many more as the bird can carry 

 nicely. The Birmingham Columbarian Society, in an article published 

 by them some years ago, laid down 40, arranged in 3 rows, as the 

 proper number; but though I have heard of such birds I have never 

 seen one. I once had a hen with 38 tail-feathers. I purchased her • 

 from Mr. Fulton, and I believe she had been imported from India; 

 and I have often bred birds with tails of 36 or 37 feathers carried in 

 most orthodox fashion. In an exhibition pen the number is of no conse- 

 quence, provided that the tail is well spread and circular, and well 

 filled up all around ; but in the breeding pen a thickly-feathered tail is 

 of great value. In the breeding of any animal for any fancy point, if 

 you can get that point in excess in either of the parents so much the 

 easier is your task. You have then something to spare, instead of 

 something to breed up to, which is a very different matter (p. 329). 



•The Pj Generation 

 The three original fantails had 29, 30 and 32 tail 

 feathers, respectively (Fig. 1). From Dr. F. D. Solley I 

 got the records of other fantails of the same stock given 

 in Fig. 2. The other parents were ordinary homers pur- 

 chased from a breeder of these birds. 



The Fj Offspring 

 The numbers of tail feathers shown by the 41 individ- 

 uals of the F 1 generation are recorded in Fig. 3. The 

 range of variation is from 12 to 20, with the highest fre- 



