148 



The Journal of Heredity 



practical for Canadian conditions. 

 To this end he desired to eliminate as 

 far as possible all purely "fancy" 

 characteristics, especially such as might 

 be disadvantageous. He was, he states, 

 "aiming at something more practical 

 than mere outside appearance to please 

 the eye." Having had experience of 

 the danger of freezing of combs and 

 wattles in severe winter weather, he 

 determined to reduce these to a mini- 

 mum. As for color, white was decided 

 on, though he does not state whether 

 he believed this color has any economic 

 advantage over others. Doubtless the 

 fact that most other colors and patterns 

 require much selection to maintain was 

 a factor in this decision. Beyond this 

 the new breed was to be a general 

 purpose one; the hens should be good 

 winter layers, and still the type should 

 be such that it would serve well for 

 meat purposes. "My ideal being 

 fixed," he adds, and "knowing what I 

 desired, but not possessing the power 

 of creating something from nothing, I 

 considered a judicious crossing of the 

 best breeds, as far as eggs and flesh 

 were concerned, was the best course 

 to venture." In other words, he 

 adopted the obvious method of mixing 

 together the available ingredients of 

 his new breed, and then by the sieve of 

 selection, straining out the combina- 

 tion desired. 



In casting about for the desired quali- 

 ties the Cornish was selected as the 

 starting point, since it seemed to possess 

 to a high degree the general conforma- 

 tion, vigor, and type of comb and 

 wattles desired. For high laying quali- 

 ties the White Leghorn offered obvious 

 material, while the Rhode Island Red, 

 Wyandotte and Plymouth Rock it 

 was thought might help winter egg 

 production. 



The first crosses were made in 1908, 

 a dark Cornish being bred to White 

 Leghorn hens in the one instance, and 

 a Rhode Island Red cock to White 

 Wyandotte hens in the other. It is 

 stated that "the hens in these first 

 two crosses are white," though this is 



modified by the further statement that 

 the first mating gave "a bird of a gray- 

 ish colour, with feathers very short, 

 closely set to body, and of slender 

 shape, whilst the head showed neither 

 comb nor wattles." In the Rhode 

 Island Red by Wyandotte cross the 

 white is said to have dominated, but 

 "with a splashing of gray and black," 

 while among them was a "beautiful 

 cock, a real Columbian Wyandotte." 

 It is difficult to reconcile Brother Wil- 

 frid's results in this latter cross with 

 those of other experimenters, who have 

 found the white of the Wyandotte to 

 be recessive.^ Brother Wilfrid is con- 

 vinced of the truth of the dictum that 

 "the female gives the colour and the 

 male the shape," though it must be 

 pointed out that by many poultry 

 breeders exactly the opposite is claimed 

 to be the case. Genetic experiments 

 have proven that in most cases the color 

 has no relation to sex in inheritance 

 and such a relation to type has not been 

 substantiated. 



In succeeding years various crossings 

 were made, but selection was always 

 towards the desired type. In 1909 

 the whitest pullets from the Cornish- 

 Leghorn cross were mated to the cock 

 from the other cross which resembled a 

 Columbian Wyandotte. This gave a 

 variety of color and type, — some were 

 dirty-gray, some speckled, while in 

 general character some resembled Leg- 

 horn, some the Rhode Island Red, 

 and others the Cornish. The latter 

 type predominated. The following 

 year (1910) a White Plymouth Rock 

 was crossed in, a fine 9^4 pound cock 

 being mated to the pick of the previous 

 year's pullets. This cross improved 

 the color, but the results were otherwise 

 disappointing. Continuation of the 

 selection, however, began to tell in the 

 following two or three years, by which 

 time "the colour was almost uniform, 

 the laying capacity had increased con- 

 siderably, the comb and wattles were 

 disappearing and the birds had proved 

 to be very vigorous and active." 



* See for example, Lippincott, Further Data on the Inheritance of Blue in Poultry, American 

 Naturalist, LV:289-327. 1921. 



