420 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



leg, and as little white in tail as possible. A 

 cock of this description mated to six pullets 

 with good sound black bodies and good yellow 

 legs, and good lobes and nice folding combs, 

 will breed birds for prizes in the show pen. 



" As to the Standard for Black Leghorns, 

 the plumage should be a rich glossy black, free 

 from feathers of any other colour ; the more 



.v'-'i4(;Ui /4 



Cuckoo 

 Leghorns, 



^- J 





Fig. 121. — American Brown Leghorn Cockerel, 



sheen the better. Legs and feet yellow ; eyes 

 bright red ; beak and toe-nails yellow or horn- 

 colour ; comb, face, and wattles a bright red. 

 Size as large as possible." 



Cuckoo-coloured or blue-barred Leghorns 

 are occasionally seen, but are not popular. 

 They appear to have come chiefly from the 

 Continent, and to have occurred naturally 

 from mixture of black and white, as so many 

 other similarly-coloured races have done. 

 There is no doubt that they are just as good 



in qualities as other Leghorns, but the colour 

 does not seem in this variety to be attractive, 

 and, there being no adequate support for it in 

 classes, it is little cultivated. It 

 is a difficult colour to produce ni 

 this breed, white and other foul 

 feathers constantly occurring. 

 This difficulty is not now found to the same ex- 

 tent in the barred Rock, which 

 has been bred for colour and 

 marking through many genera- 

 tions, and in large numbers ; but 

 in a variety so little bred as the 

 Cuckoo Leghorn it is felt 

 severely. With such stock as is 

 obtainable, we should advise 

 selecting two-year-old birds (that 

 age often showing up faults not 

 seen in the chickens), weeding 

 out severely for any foul 

 feathers, and selecting the 

 medium colour and barring in 

 both sexes. Strains are not fixed 

 enough to breed by the same 

 rules as barred Rocks, and this 

 course will be found on the 

 whole most successful. 



Mottled Leghorns are also 

 rarely seen, but are likely to be 

 displaced by the Ancona, if not 

 practically the same bird. 



The Leghorn is- bred and 

 kept in America and also Aus- 

 tralia to an extent quite un- 

 known in England ; 

 American but the birds there 

 Leghorns. generally are different 

 from the English 

 style, far nearer the original 

 type, and, as a rule, more pro- 

 lific. In one respect English 

 type has prevailed. All the 

 first birds sent to England 

 were very high in tail but we 

 from the first advisedly op- 

 posed tliat style, as sure to be fatal to the 

 fowl if adhered to, and the result has fully 

 justified our action, which happily proved 

 decisive at a time when the question hung in 

 suspense. On both sides of the Atlantic the 

 flowing tail is long since fully recognised. 

 But the American Leghorn differs in other 

 respects. It remains considerably smaller 

 than the Minorca, and is also rather higher 

 on the leg than the English, of rather more 

 slender form and sprightly carriage, and 

 with the much more moderate comb of the 



