42b 



THE BOOK OF POULTRY. 



new Anconas is purely a matter of plumage 

 and leg colour. Anyone who has access to 

 poultry yards where the so-called 

 New Type old type Anconas are bred may see, 

 Anconas amongst the soot and whitewash 



brigade, I a few birds much darker 

 than the rest. It was just these darker birds 

 which caused the change. A few fanciers who 

 were lovers of the beautiful saw at once what 

 an improvement in appearance it would be if 

 the dark birds could be obtained with the end 

 of each feather tipped with white ; so the very 

 darkest (some few were quite black) were bred 

 from until the desired result was obtained. 

 The dark under-colour, ' so important in the 

 exhibition bird,' caused a corresponding dark- 

 ness in leg colour ; but in some cases the legs 

 were beautifully spotted with black, and these 

 birds were again selected for breeding pur- 

 poses. Another change also became popular, 

 viz., the beetle-green sheen on the feathers. 

 Most of the older birds had a purple sheen, 

 but this was gradually eliminated, until to-day 

 we have one of the most beautiful birds it is 

 possible to wish for, and at no expense in the 

 matter of type and size from the original 

 Ancona. 



" And now about the laying qualities ! 

 Some of the grumblers said it would be 

 impossible to retain the utility qualities if so 

 much was made of the colour question. Yet 

 we have White Wyandottes, Leghorns, Rocks, 

 Orpingtons, etc., and we also have the same 

 varieties in blacks, each and every one of 

 which, if we get the right strains, are good 

 layers, so that there is plain proof that colour 

 has nothing to do with utility qualities at all. 



"The real points to be observed for utility 

 qualities are type and strain. We have not 

 altered the type at all, as will be seen from the 

 standard ; and as to strain, the average modern 

 Ancona will lay from 150 to 190 eggs yearly, 

 which is, to say the least, as good as any other 

 breed. Most of the egg averages of twenty 

 years ago were mere guess-work ; to-day we 

 use trap nests." 



The following notes on the exhibition type 

 of Ancona are furnished by Messrs. Heap 

 Brothers, of Worsthorne, near Burnley, well 

 known as successful exhibitors. 



" This breed, it is generally conceded, was 

 imported into this country from Ancona in 

 Italy, where it has been kept in large numbers 

 by the farmers of that district for its utilitarian 

 properties. Certainly it ranks as one of, if not 

 the very best layers extant. We have fre- 

 quently heard Anconas decried as layers of 

 small eggs, but as with most breeds, we con- 



sider this to be more a matter of strain. The 

 strain that we keep lay eggs which average over 

 2 OZ3. in weight, which we consider quite up to, 

 if not above the average. As we have said 

 before, they were imported into this country for 

 their exceptional laying qualities, and the re- 

 ception they met with has scarcely been 

 equalled by that of any breed in recent years. 

 They are indeed very profitable fowls from a 

 utility point of view, as they mature very 

 quickly, pullets very often commencing to lay 

 when about eighteen weeks old. The cockerels 

 are also very precocious youngsters, crowing 

 frequently at five or six weeks old. As table 

 fowls they can scarcely be recommended on 

 account of their smallness, but their flesh is 

 excellent in flavour. 



" It was not long before they made their 

 appearance in the exhibition pen. About the 

 year 1898 a difference of opinion arose amongst 

 Ancona breeders as to the type of bird which 

 should constitute the standard, and at a meet- 

 ing held at the Dairy Show in 1S99, which was 

 well attended by the principal breeders, a 

 standard was drawn up and passed as a guid- 

 ance to breeders what to breed for. This 

 standard met with much opposition at the time, 

 and was the subject of much controversy in the 

 poultry papers. The question finally resolved 

 itself into how large or how small the tipping 

 at the end of each feather should be, also the 

 way the feathers should be tipped. We 

 favoured, as we do still, the small V-shaped 

 tip. Were they tipped or mottle'd — call it 

 what you like — to the extent of three-eighths of 

 an inch, as some breeders contended, on each 

 feather, the bird would present almost the ap- 

 pearance of a white one, as the ground-colour 

 would be covered by the feathers overlapping 

 each other. The Anconas often seen at exhibi- 

 tions a few years ago were frequently held up 

 to ridicule for their mongrel appearance, and 

 it was with a sincere desire to improve this 

 splendid utility fowl from an artistic or exhibi- 

 tion standpoint, and to breed them more uni- 

 form in colour and shape, that the present 

 standard was evolved. 



" We know of no breed that has made more 

 rapid strides in the time towards attaining that 

 end than have Anconas. When we consider 

 the progress made in breeding since the present 

 standard was made, the success achieved has 

 been remarkable, though certainly there is still 

 much room for improvement. In cocks, a few 

 years ago one scarcely saw anything but white 

 tails, tipped with black, which were certainly 

 not uniform with the body colour. Our aim is 

 to breed them with a good beetle-green ground- 



