58 MAINE AGRiCL'LTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I903. 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Illustrations of four of the heaviest laying birds which we 

 have are shown, and also two of the poorest producers. 



The White Wyandotte hen No. 1069 was kept until she was 

 four years old and we are very sure she laid no eggs. She was 

 a vigorous, well formed bird, of active habits, and always in 

 apparently good health. She was not masculine in her make up. 

 As may be seen by her picture, she was not sufficiently unlike 

 No. 403 — her mate of the same breeding — as to even in a small 

 degree account for their varying functions. 



No. 403 is now over four years old. During her first year's 

 work she laid 219 eggs ; 162 during the second year ; 72 the third 

 year. She is now at her fourth year's work. 



Four illustrations of Plymouth Rocks are shown. No. 588 

 was a fairlv well made bird of medium weis^ht. She was rather 

 fine for a representative of her breed, but she was in no respect 

 effeminate or lacking in vitality. She did not lay until she was 

 nine months old. She then laid eight eggs in one month, and 

 laid no more during the remaining six months she was kept. 



No 318 is now four years old. She is a strong, muscular bird, 

 of large size, always fleshy but never over much so. She is very 

 energetic and active. The 236 eggs she laid the first year and 

 their extra size and color easily make her one of the best birds 

 we have bred. 



No. 617 yielded 251 eggs in her first year, the most of any 

 bird we have bred. They were of good size and shape, but 

 hardly of sufficiently high color. In size, form, and feature she 

 is in marked contrast with No. 318, being lighter in weight, nar- 

 rower in body, both front and rear, with lighter neck and fine 

 head and comb. She would be regarded as of the egg type, by 

 those people who profess to tell the egg yielding capacities of 

 hens by their forms and markings, while No. 318 would be 

 regarded as rather of the beefy type. 



No. 1003 is somewhat like No. 318 in form, being large and 

 more compact and fleshy than No. 617. Her yield was 240 large 

 brown eggs the first year she laid. 



A study of the illustrations, while not as satisfactory as an 

 examination of the living birds, is worthy the attention of inves- 

 tigators and breeders. 



