NEIF TYPE OF AN CON AS 



427 



colour, v;ith each feather tipped with white, 

 throughout the entire bird. 



" In mating Anconas to produce exhibition 

 birds; one needs to be very careful in the 

 selection of stock birds. Examine each bird 

 carefully, and discard any that have white 

 under-colour. This is a very common fault, 

 and one that breeders should take pains to 

 exterminate. Another evil to be avoided is 

 lacing, by which we mean a white edging round 

 the feather. Choose those with (as nearly as 

 you have them) the V-shaped tip, with the 

 white clearly distinct from the ground-colour, 



Ancona Cockerel. 



which gives the bird a slaty appearance. Select 

 for the male bird one with firm erect comb, 

 evenly serrated, serrations deeply cut, face a 

 brilliant red, white face in Anconas being a 

 disqualification and not merely a defect ; lobes 

 medium in size, almond shape, and white ; 

 body colour as nearly to the exhibition stan- 

 dard as possible ; legs deep yellow with black 

 mottling evenly distributed. Be careful about 

 the tail. Examine the bird and see that the 

 feathers are black from the skin ; many begin 

 white, then are black in the middle of the 

 feather, then white tip at the end. In hens, 

 again, be careful about selecting those with 



sound under-colour, and in colour we like them 

 rather on the dark side : we mean darker in 

 appearance than required for exhibition. A 

 frequent fault in Anconas is that they carry 

 their tails too high, squirrel fashion ; try by all 

 means to breed this out by selecting only those 

 with low tail carriage. 



" It may seem that there are many points 

 to avoid, and so there are ; but if one wishes to 

 produce really good exhibition specimens, it is 

 much better to breed from two hens and a cock 

 which have the qualifications to breed standard 

 birds, than a field full of so-called Anconas of 

 the old, ' splashed-anywhere-you-like birds,' 

 which gave one the impression that they had 

 been splashed with a white-washer's brush. 



" Another point in favour of the new 

 standard is that cockerels and pullets may be 

 bred from the same pen, as the colour of both 

 is identical in every respect, with the usual 

 sexual differences. This is much in its favour. 

 We think the reason for the apparent decline in 

 many breeds, such as the Hamburghs, is mainly 

 that two pens are required, one for breeding 

 cockerels and another for pullets, many 

 working-men fanciers not having accommoda- 

 tion for what becomes practically two breeds. 

 Of course, there are birds naturally better 

 adapted for cockerel or pullet breeding, such 

 as a hen with an erect comb, which (had 

 she other requirements) might be valuable 

 as a stock bird, though not for exhibition pur- 

 poses." 



The two photographs herewith of Mr. 

 Eadson's winning igio cockerel and Mr. Whit- 

 taker's pullet show the progress made in exhi- 

 bition specimens. 



About 1902 a Rosecomb Ancona came upon 

 the scene, but, owing to the difficulty of breed- 

 ing birds of Ancona type with helmet combs, 

 they have not made that headway 

 Rosecomb which they were expected to do. 

 Anconas. Still, there are several fanciers who 

 still stick to Rosecombs, and the 

 Club Show of 191 1 will, we think, mark a 

 distinct advance in this variety. Many of the 

 Rosecomb pullets lay quite a brown &g^. 



The Standard of the Poultry Club for 

 Anconas is as follows : — 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 



COCK 



Head. — Skull : Moderately long and deep, and 

 inclined to width. Beak : Of medium length and 

 with a moderate curve. Eyes : Prominent. Comb : 

 (a) Single or (6) rose ; (a) of medium size, upright, 

 with deep serrations (broad at their base}, and five 



