The genetic and the operative evidence relating to secondary sexual charactersMorgan, Thomas Hunt
Science
The genetic and the operative evidence relating to secondary sexual characters
Morgan, Thomas Hunt
Genetics; Poultry; Sex (Biology)
From Goodale’s careful summing up of the effects of castration only the
following points need be recalled: The feathers are little changed; some
of them, the hackles especially, become longer. The lowermost tier of
wing coverts are elongated as compared with those of the cock. The spurs
are practically the same in the capon and cock. The capon is disinclined
to give voice, but at times he crows. The molting is not affected. The
size of the capon is larger. He pays little attention to the hens. He is
not pugnacious, and if attacked will not often fight. As a rule he does
not pursue the hens, but if a hen squats down as the capon approaches he
will mount and go through the characteristic mating reaction. The comb
is extremely small, much smaller than that of the female of the same
race; it is infantile rather than feminine.
Comparing these results with those that I have observed in the castrated
Sebright, we find that aside from the assumption of the full plumage of
the cock-feathered bird the Sebright shows all of the characteristic
features of the capon. The spurs develop, perhaps even more fully than
in the normal Sebright cock. He seldom crows, and then weakly. The birds
appear large, but the excessive development of the feathers produces the
effect. I have not weighed them to show whether an actual increase in
size takes place. Two of my birds are notably large for Sebrights, but
the others are smaller. Both large and small cocks occur in the strain
that I have used. My Sebright and other capons neglect the hens, but I
have seen them tread the hens on occasion. They will fight each other,
if two strangers meet, but the attacks are not violent or prolonged. A
normal male beats them easily, and afterwards they run away from such
birds. The combs and wattles are very small and pale. If a piece of the
testis is left in, the comb is a fair index of its size. In the birds
that changed back toward a Sebright the comb slowly enlarged. After the
second operation it decreased again as the plumage once more changed to
that of the cock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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