GOLDEN WYANDOTTES HISTORY. 41 



the Golden Wyandottes, had been bred for a long time in Wiscon- 

 sin. How they formed this opinon I do not know, as there is noth- 

 ing in my writing or circulars that would lead to such a conclusion. 



" I am aware that many breeders of Golden Wyandottes are 

 intensely anxious to know more about the Winnebagoes, the quality 

 of their foundation blood, the material and characteristics which en- 

 tered their composition. The following facts will throw some light 

 on the subject: A few years prior to the time I began to breed the 

 Golden Wyandottes, I was breeding Pea-Comb Partridge Cochins, 

 and Single-Comb Brown Leghorns; I also procured some eggs of 

 the Rose-Comb Brown Leghorn variety from T. J. McDaniel, South 

 Hollis, Me. He did not claim that they were pure-blood Leghorns, 

 but were crossed with a fowl, about the same color, that had a rose- 

 comb and red earlobes, called ' York County ' fowls. 



u I had these Partridge Cochins, Brown Leghorns and Rose- 

 Comb Leghorns together, and selected those that had the best 

 rose combs, cleanest yellow legs and reddest earlobes. I selected a 

 large cockerel that had a good rose comb, clean yellow legs, red ear- 

 lobes, and plumage about the same as a Partridge Cochin male. 

 I bred this cockerel on some mongrel Buff Cochin hens that came 

 into existence in the following way: Some time about 1872 or '73, I 

 was breeding some fine Buff Cochins and Golden Sebright Bantams. 

 I let a family named O'Neil have some eggs of both these varieties; 

 they raised the chickens and let them run together with some 

 medium-sized common fowls on a farm. A few years after this, I 

 found, with the O'Neil family, Buff Cochins with yellow legs, rose- 

 combs, light leg feathering, and a slight show of lacing on some 

 specimens. I bred the Partridge Cochin-Brown Leghorn cockerel, 

 above mentioned, on some of these Buff hens, and the result was 

 some cockerels of a very deep buff, all but the tail, and that was a 

 shiny green black, with rose-comb and clean, yellow legs. Dorsey 

 Smith, agent for the American Express Company, at Waukau, Wis., 

 bought one of these cockerels of me about ten years ago, and has 

 bred a number like him since. The pullets were of a kind of buff 

 color with more or less penciling or lacing. My farm I called ' The 

 Winnebago Poultry Farm,' and as these fowls were raised there, I 

 called them 'Winnebagoes.' Now, from what I have written, we 

 deduce these facts: that the Winnebagoes, the top cross to produce 

 Golden Wyandottes, have Pea-Comb Partridge Cochin, Rose and 

 Single-Comb Brown Leghorn, Buff Cochin, and I have reason to 

 believe, a very little Golden Sebright Bantam blood in them, no 



