178 



The Journal of Heredity 



The beak and legs alone in such breeds, 

 however, form a ready means of select- 

 ing the laying hen. 



PRODUCTION PENALIZED. 



The "Standard of Perfection" which 

 controls the judges in the show room 

 demands yellow in the beak and legs of 

 the two types of breeds recorded in Table 

 I. Other things being equal therefore, in 

 preferring the bird with yellow beak and 

 yellow legs, the poultry judge is pvc- 

 f erring the poorer layers. That this is 

 not a mere theoretical conclusion is 

 illustrated by Figure 1 2 . The best layer 

 in the pen was scored down because her 



beak aij]jeared faded. In other fancy 

 points also she was a poor scorer — in 

 fact had the lowest score in her pen. 

 Her score card is shown in Figure 13 

 alongside that of the highest scoring 

 bird from the same pen. The highest 

 scorer, however, turned out to be the 

 poorest layer in the pen. Their egg 

 records up to Feburary 23rd are shown 

 in Figure 14. 



The blanks in Figure 14 show a type of 

 score card that is well nigh ideal. 

 Perfection is judged by production. A 

 bird, or a pen, that wins in such an egg 

 laying contest as the one conducted at 

 Storrs, Conn., is obliged to lay eggs. 



TABLE L 



Percentage of Birds Laying, Average Number of Days since Laying and Yearly Totals for 

 Different Color Grades of Beaks and Legs. 



(P, Mand Y are abbreviations for Pale, Medium and Yellow; the color of beak is written first 

 followed by color of legs.) 



W\AN"DOTTES (79 Birds with yearly average f)f 144.8 eggs). 



TABL1-: II. 



Yearly Egg Records for Hens Pak (P) in Different Parts. (256 White Leghorns with yearly 

 average of 150.4 eggs.) 



