6 WYANDOTTES. 



HEMLOCK LAKE, N. Y., August 7, 1871. 



Dear Sir I was at Lima last week and saw some Sebright chickens that were 

 hatched from eggs obtained from you. 



I have a nice lot of the same breed, and wish to get two cocks to cross with my 

 hens, as mine are all related. If you can spare those that are well marked, with 

 double or rose combs, that will make good size cocks, you may send them to me. I 

 am particular about the comb, as mine are rose combs and I do not wish to breed 

 them single. Write me if you have them to spare and at what price. 



Yours truly, 

 REV. MR. BAKER. JOHN P. RAY. 



Endorsed on the back of this letter is the Rev. Mr. Baker's reply. 



J. P. RAY: HONEOYE FALLS, August 28, 1871. 



Dear Sir I have no fowls to sell. I think you could get two cocks of Rev. 

 Mr. Benson if you would apply soon. Mr. Benson would probably want $i each. 



A. S. BAKER. 



Evidently single and rose combs appeared in the early Sebright 

 Cochins, as the single comb has done in some broods since the 

 Silver Wyandotte was admitted to the Standard. This feature 

 appeared in two separate broods, which we reared seven years ago, 

 and the eggs were purchased from two breeders in the state of New 

 York. The birds with single combs were much lighter in plumage, 

 and the lacing showed a very close resemblance to that of the Silver 

 Spangled Hamburg. 



Thus we see that Messrs. Ray, Baker and Benson were in 

 possession of the foundation material of the Silver Wyandotte in 

 1871. The following year a cut of one of Mr. Ray's birds appeared 

 in the Rural Home. The same and following year he sold some of 

 his stock to Messrs. McMillan, Dudley, Whittaker and Hull. The 

 subsequent cross on this foundation blood was a Silver Spangled 

 Hamburg and Dark Brahma. No pea comb appeared until after 

 this cross of 1876. 



After the Sebright Cochins had been bred some years by several 

 breeders in New York, Michigan and probably in other states, Mr. 

 Payne, of Binghamton, N. Y., advertised his fowls in the Poultry 

 World in 1874-75. In 1876 this breed was presented to the 

 American Poultry Association, at Buffalo, for admission to the 

 Standard under the name American Sebrights. This type was 

 from a cross of the Silver Spangled Hamburg and Buff Cochin. 

 It was conceded that this fowl was much superior in type, beauty 

 and usefulness to the Sebright Cochins, while other parties had 

 been at work to obviate the faults of the latter, as the lacing was too 

 light and too indistinct to^merit being called laced. Single combs 



