4i6 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



to produce both of equal merit from one mat- 

 ing. For producing the most typical cockerels 

 it is necessary that great attention be paid 

 to every detail when mating up the 

 Breeding pgn. The stock cock should be 



Leghorns. '" ^'^ main points an exhibition 

 specimen, with an evenly serrated 

 comb, good open lobes, and a perfectly sound 

 face, and no white in face should be tolerated 

 in a one-year-old bird. His hackle should be 

 bright in colour, with the black striping sharply 

 defined, but not heavy. The breast should be 

 solid in colour and perfectly free from white 

 splashes. Such a cock should be mated with 

 large hens (size being very important), of the 

 light brown colour, with fine though distinct 

 pencilling. A shade of warmth or rust on 

 their wings will not matter ; in fact, it is pre- 

 ferable, as it helps to give a warm tinge to 

 the colour of the progeny. The combs of the 

 hens should be firmly set on their heads, only 

 medium in size, and well and evenly serrated. 

 Combs that fall half to one side and then 

 double over and fall in the opposite direction 

 should be avoided for cockerel breeding, as 

 they often cause malformed combs in the 

 cockerels. The hen's ear-lobes should be large 

 and smooth. The carriage of the tail is an 

 important point, for a high-tailed hen W\\\ 

 most likely produce squirrel-tailed cockerels, 

 so that hens should be selected which carry 

 their tails rather low. 



" For pullet-breeding, the stock cock should be 

 of a more sombre colour, the hackle being deeper 

 in the golden bay, and more heavily striped 

 with black. The breast may be slightly splashed 

 or ticked with brown, and this will even be 

 found an advantage, by the production of 

 deeper colour on the breasts of his offspring. 

 Such a cock should be mated with rather light 

 but perfectly sound partridge-coloured hens, 

 which should be absolutely free from any rust 

 or warm tinge on the wings. Their combs 

 should be large and gracefully carried, the lobes 

 as large as possible, and the legs bright yellow, 

 entirely free from dark spots or scales. This 

 mating will produce even-coloured pullets, but 

 the cockerels, with scarcely an exception, will 

 be of no use except to be retained as pullet- 

 breeding stock birds. 



" If a two-year-old stock cock be used, it 

 is well to mate him with one-year-old hens, 

 and, in the case of a cockerel, his mates should 

 be two years old." 



Pile Leghorns should probably come next in 

 date, having been produced by crossing Whites 

 with Browns, in the same way as were first 



produced Pile Ganse; It was in 1881 that 

 Mr. G. Payne mated up his first pen of White 

 and Brown ; but it was not until January, 18S6, 

 that he was able to exhibit two 

 Pile pullets and a cockerel, the latter 



Leghorns. being poor, but the pullets good. At 

 the Dairy Show of that year, how- 

 ever, he produced two pairs of Piles which left 

 little to be desired, and took first and third 

 prizes m a mi.xed class ; and for a time the 

 colour was fairly popular. Other crosses 

 have been introduced by various breeders at 

 one time or another. The article below speaks 

 of a Game cross, and its effects on the type 

 of the strain ; and perhaps one of the most 

 remarkable " flukes " in the history of poultry- 

 breeding was the colour and success of some 

 Pile Leghorns exhibited in "the nineties," 

 which the breeder himself stated to be bred 

 from a cross-bred bird deriving parentage 

 from the Light Brahma ! This cross probably 

 accounts for the feathered legs seen on a 

 cockerel at the Palace Show in 1894; but we 

 have a vivid recollection of the colour shown 

 by this exhibitor for one or two seasons, which 

 was marvellous. There can be no real occasion 

 for crossing any further. 



The notes which follow on this variety 

 were supplied in 1900 by Messrs. H. and A. P. 

 Simpson, of Ilkeston, whose success in breed- 

 ing and exhibiting will be remembered: 



" Pile Leghorns have made rapid strides in 

 prblic fa\'our during the past few years. They 

 were first originated by Mr. G. Payne, about 

 1886, being the result of several years' crossing 

 between the older established varieties of White 

 and Brown Leghorns. For several years they 

 moved very slowly in the estimation of the 

 public, probably owing to the difficulty of pro- 

 ducing a good percentage of birds true to type 

 and colour ; but as the result of careful breed- 

 ing and untiring attention by a few fanciers who 

 have not failed to recognise the merits of the 

 variety, they appear to be now well established, 

 and the number of mis-marked chickens con- 

 siderably diminished. 



" It may be interesting to record that oui 

 particular strain of Pile Leghorns were pro- 

 duced from a Pile hen which we bought from 

 Mr. A. C. Bradbury, in 1891, undoubtedly across 

 between his White Leghorns and Pile Game ; 

 but we never ascertained in what manner the 

 cross was made. This hen was mated to a 

 Brown Leghorn cockerel, with the result that we 

 were fortunate enough to breed prize-winners 

 from her during the first season. We continued 

 to mate her and the pullets bred from her with 

 Brown cockerels, until we obtained a fixity 



