162



Correspondence on Breeding Lutinos



Dear Sir,


I have this day received yours of 22nd ult., also yours of 28th ult.


You have my permission to publish my letter if you think it would

be of sufficient interest to readers.


You have understood me correctly in regard to the daughters of

the lutinos being in no way more valuable for producing lutinos

or albinos than any other Alexandrines of the same colour, but bear

in mind that daughters of blues or of green split blues are just as

valuable as sons for the production of blues.


I maintain that the albino factor and the lutino factor are one

and the same, and that it is not a colour factor, is not related to the

colour factors, and does not in any way interfere with the colour factors,

or with their hereditary transmission. That conception of the factor

is totally inconsistent with much that has been published, yet I have

no doubt whatever on the point. Now see where this will lead us in

connection with the mating you hope will produce a White Alexandrine.


You write, “ I am this season trying a blue-bred cock mated to a

yellow-bred hen and wonder if I shall get a white one.” I understand

that your yellow Alexandrines are lutinos—that they have red eyes.

If that is correct they are not yellows, they are albino greens. That

is practically certain, though not absolutely so, because albino yellows

and albino greens are of the same colour. If they are yellows, where

did they get their yellow factor ?


So we may take it as almost certain that you are mating a blue-bred

cock with a pure normal green hen, unless one of her parents is a split

blue or a blue (all sons and daughters of a blue should be split blue,

also some sons and daughters of two greens will be split blue if one

or more of the green parents is split blue).


Unless my conception of the factor is entirely incorrect and unless

your yellow albino Alexandrines have near relatives that are yellow

in colour of feathers (probably suffused with green) and normal in

colour of eyes it is useless to expect to produce normal whites from

the above mating. In order to produce white albinos from that

mating, the cock must be split albino and at the same time split blue

or white, and the hen must be split blue or split white, and even then

they could produce only hens in albinos.



