366 TEE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. XLIX 



extra color disk in taking the records. A rough grouping 

 by inspection into the three grades, pale, medium and 

 yellow, however, gives a striking corroboration of the re- 

 sults obtained by the more accurate records on the ear- 

 lobes and is applicable to breeds in which ear-lobe yellow 

 is not present. The grading was always done by the same 

 one of us (W.) who has had some familiarity in handling- 

 poultry. Probably no two observers would entirely agree 

 in recording the colors but the difficulty comes in delimit- 

 ing the grade medium, and not in deciding between the 

 extremes, pale and yellow. The color records were taken 

 on October 31 and November 1 to 4, as the birds were 

 being packed for shipment and their egg records were 

 looked up for tabulation after they had left the contest. 



Table III corresponds to Table I. In the first three 

 rows are listed the birds that agree in beak and leg color. 

 In the second three rows the birds are grouped according 

 to their beak colors without regard to their leg colors, 

 while in the last three rows they are grouped according to 

 leg color alone. 



Table IV corresponds to Table II. Since egg records 

 for these birds stopped on October 31, a bird laying on 

 October 29 is counted among the layers even if she failed 

 to lay on the 31st — the day she left the contest. 



It will be noted from Table III that, in the Leghorns at 

 least, where the numbers are large enough to make com- 

 parisons significant, the beaks, considered alone, seem to 

 form a slightly better criterion for picking out the hens 

 with high records, while the legs alone are better in select- 

 ing the poorest layers. In the great majority of cases in 

 all the breeds considered, if the beak and the legs fail to 

 agree in color it is the beak that is listed the yellower. In 

 October the hens are falling off in laying and in conse- 

 quence increasing in yellow pigment. Apparently the ear- 

 lobes and beak are more quickly responsive to this change. 

 In only 97 out of 160 Leghorns for which the beak was 

 listed as yellow had the legs reached a similar grading 

 in color. 



Of the 51 White Leghorns listed in Table III as pale in 



