XXV.—An Experimental Analysis of the Plumage of the Brown Leghorn Fowl

Abstract

General Summary1. The plumage of the Brown Leghorn fowl is analysed and the extent of its dependence on the activity of the thyroid and gonad is discussed.2. Hypothyroidism results (a) in a diminution in the amount of melanin and a coincident increase in the red pigment; (b) in an increase in the amount of fringing due to a lack of barbule formation. The female pattern tends to disappear.3. Hyperthyroidism in the male gives exactly the opposite effect—i.e. the melanin increases in amount while the red pigment and fringing tend to disappear. In the female the effect of hyperthyroidism is slight, and with moderate doses of thyroid there is practically no modification of the female pattern of pencilling and no melanin appears in the breast. The neck hackle, however, becomes darker and shows a decrease in fringing.4. From these results, together with what is known concerning the effect of gonad on plumage, a hypothesis is advanced, that whereas the plumage typical of the male is developed independently of the gonad and depends for its maintenance on a certain level of thyroid functioning, both gonad and thyroid play a part in regard to that of the female; the former stimulates the latter to a higher level of activity than that present in the male and so indirectly causes a hyperthyroid effect on the feathers. At the same time it modifies this condition by acting directly on the feathers and restricting the deposition of melanin.5. The fact that in both sexes the plumage in the young chick is similar to that of the female puts this theory in question. There is evidence to show, however, that yolk may have a modifying effect on plumage similar to that of the ovary, and thus the doubt regarding the validity of the hypothesis can be removed by the suggestion that the chick plumage develops under the influence of the yolk in its own yolk sac. This second theory gains confirmation by a study of the atypical plumage which is occasionally met with in growing females, and also by a consideration of the type of plumage developed in juvenile females following the successful implantation of testis.