ENGLISH AND AMERICAN TYPES. 



307 



male for such a pen must, of course, be a 

 typical exhibition bird, with good straight 

 barring of rich green =heen well defined from 

 the ground colour. 



" For exhibition pullet breeding the females 

 should be good exhibition birds with straight, 

 well defined bars on clean ground colour, per- 

 fectly even throughout, which, of course, is a 

 great feature in the exhibition pen. The 

 shade of colour is not so important as its 

 evenness, for judges somewhat differ as to the 

 former, but all agree as to the necessity of the 

 latter. Hence it is most important to select all 

 as even as possible. The male for the pullet 

 breeding pen is a bird which is too light for 

 English shows, yet perfectly even and distinct 

 in barring. Such an one has in my yards 

 proved to be the most successful. It is not 



be taken as too fine m that respect, while those 

 with fewer as running too coarse in barring. 

 When a bird is too finely barred his plumage 

 is too cloudy in appearance and lacks definition 

 between the bars and ground colour, a blemish 

 which tends greatly to spoil the attractiveness 

 of the Plymouth Rock. 



" The Cjuestion of under-colour received but 

 little attention in this country up to a few years 

 ago. Totally black or white under-colours have 

 been at a discount certainly, but distinction in 

 barrings below the surface has not been con- 

 sidered a sine qua non in either the exhibition 

 or stock specimens, but during the last few 

 years more stress has been laid on the under- 

 colour, and, hence, more care must be taken in 

 choosing breeding stock. 



" In America they manage things differ- 



F'g- 97- — American Plymouth RocW Phimage. 



necessary for this male to be barred to the skin, 

 but he nmst have good even barring on breast 

 and wing bars, and the latter must be of rich 

 colour. 



" On examination every feather of the male 

 and female should possess a ground colour of 

 light blue-grey, crossed at regular intervals 

 from root to tip (with the exception of the 

 pullet breeding cockerel, in which it is not so 

 particular for it to go to the root of the feather) 

 with straight, sharply cut, clearly defined bars 

 of a green lustred black. Brown or bronzy 

 tinges must be totally absent. A fair amount 

 of latitude is allowed in the number of bars on 

 each feather, but in birds which have been con- 

 sidered as near perfection as any yet produced, 

 I have found that the feathers in the middle 

 of the back are marked with from seven to ten 

 bars each, so that those may be taken as about 

 the limits. Birds with bars more frequent may 



entiy ; for years they have been breeding to 

 produce barrings to the roots, and from the 

 illustrations in Fig. 97, representing the 

 plumage of an American pullet, it will be 

 seen that the results justify the labour. The 

 photographs show how the undcr-barrings are 

 developed on the wing, back, and tail, all well 

 cut and remarkably even, not only throughout 

 the body, but also on every flight and tail 

 feather ; but to compete with success at English 

 shows, each bar should be a little wider, and 

 therefore the complexion of the whole bird a 

 little darkei. There is no denying the fact that 

 these American Rocks have a very pleasing 

 appearance, yet they seem to lack something of 

 that dignity and substantiality peculiar to our 

 darker specimens. 



" Be that as it may, such photographs are 

 a reminder that although v.-e can give points 

 to any country on Rocks, taking the birds all 



