20 



THE LEGHORNS 



Some people claim that the Leghorns with rose 

 combs came originally from Italy; again, in early 

 day clippings, I find that the first Browns that came had 

 rose combs. Mr. H. D. Forbes, then of New Haven, 

 Conn., stated that these combs were produced by crossing 

 a rose comb cock with a single comb hen. Mr. Ayres 

 went to Italy, came home and reported that he could not 

 find a single rose combed Leghorn on the other side. At 

 the Cleveland Show of 1881, I was called upon, with 

 others, to e.xamine some rose comb shows. We objected 

 to the combs because they would have disqualified a Ham- 

 burgh. Following this, Mrs. M. L. Maples, Mystic River, 

 Connecticut, not only claimed that they were original 

 from the other side, but that the man who saw them 

 taken from the vessel was then living in Mystic River, a 

 Mr. Burrows. I always claimed that they were made 

 from Hamburghs and Leghorns. 



Mr. McGrew's own statement of the origin of Rose 

 Comb Brown Leghorns is shared by the majority of Leg- 

 horn breeders today. The following history of the ex- 

 perience of T. J. McDaniel in originating Rose Comb 

 Brown Leghorns, appeared in the "Poultry World," July, 

 1877: 



I will give your readers a bit of experience in an 

 attempt to originate and establish a new variety of Leg- 

 horns. -And let me say. first, that I have no "axe to 

 grind," nor eggs or fowls to sell, but simply write this 

 article in the interest of the fraternity of poultrydom and 

 to interest amateurs — perhaps amuse veterans — in the 

 good cause. However, I will give a true account of my 

 experiments as I made them. 



In 1874 I had several hens of an old breed called 

 "Yorks." and I used them only for sitters. They ex- 

 ceeded, in this capacity, any fowls I ever saw. Some were 

 as dark as a male robin; all had rose combs. I crossed 

 them with a Brown Leghorn male, and selecting only the 

 rose comb chicKs. put them in the hands of a neighbor to 

 please whom I introduced them into my 1875 circular as 

 "York County Fowls," but did not sell any for the reason 

 that he became so enamoured of the work, and so enthusi- 

 astic in its pursuit, that wherever he saw a yellow-legged 

 rose comb, if it possessed the color anywhere within a 

 "gun-shot" of his desideratum, he would make a purchase 

 and "throw (?) in new blood!" But last season, by pro- 

 curing a male bird of the right kind, I succeeded in get- 

 ting the color of plumage to suit my fancy. 



This last cockerel was a first cross between a Golden 

 Spangled Hamburg and Brown Leghorn, and had solid 

 white ear lobes. He was just the bird I desired, throwing 

 less than ten percent of willow-legged pullets, and about 

 one in every nine came with single combs. The plumage 

 of his get w'as as closely allied to that of first-class Brown 

 Leghorns as one bird to another of the same. Now, for 

 my own gratification, I have gained quite a victory, for 

 these rose combed fowls will now breed as true to color 

 as any strain of Brown Leghorns in the world; i.e., if said 

 Brown Leghorns are strictly Standard birds, with spot- 

 less pendant, lobes, etc. 



I do not wish to write disparagingly of true Brown 

 Leghorns, for they are the best layers in existence, ex- 

 cepting, perhaps, the Bolton Grays; but between a rose 

 and single combed fowl there is, naturally, a difiference of 

 temperament, the latter possessing a shyness and nervous- 

 ness, invariably, that the former does not have; in fact, 

 the flow of the' circulation tending to the head, as it does 

 in a Brown Leghorn, nu-t infrequently produces all the 

 symptoms that characterize cerebral apoplexy, which I 

 have seen many times. .\ hen having a large leathery 

 comb and red ear-lobes, in the best of her laying season. 

 is the one most susceptible to this hyperenergia. But I 

 never saw one so troubled if possessing a solid white 

 €ar lobe. So the ear lobe prevents this trouble — ^the only 

 good that the unnatural appendage ever did, to my knowl- 

 edge. But. with respect to this nervous difTiculty, I would 

 like to inquire if the Hamburgs, possessing, as they do, 

 the same bulk of weight of comb, do not make better 

 pets; are they not tamer and more docile? Therefore, if 

 they do, they consume less food. I speak only from ob- 

 servation, never having bred them; but, assisting to judge 

 the Hamburg class, after judging the Spanish alone, at 

 the last exhibition of the Maine Poultry .Association, I 



noticed this difference of temperament in a marked de- 

 gree, as I had to handle hundreds of fowls in scaling; and 

 1 noticed further that the compact, low-stationed birds, 

 and those having smaller combs also, were less active and 

 irritable than the long-necked, high-built and heavv- 

 combed birds. 



Now, considering these points in favor of rose combs, 

 together with less liability to frost, why not introduce 

 "rose combed" Brown Leghorns as well as pea combed 

 Partridge Cochins? Well, a neighbor has them, whether 

 they are introduced to the public favor or not, and suffice 

 it to say, they breed equally as true as Leghorns, are 

 tamer, and now lay better; are heavier, but occasionally 

 desire to sit; do not throw white feathers, nor have frozen 

 combs, which is saying much in their favor. 



Rose Comb White Leghorns were claimed to be 

 sports of the Rose Comb Browns, by some breeders, 

 while others maintain that they were made by crossing a 

 rose comb white sport with a White Hamburg, Mr. James 

 Forsyth, of Owego, N. Y., having successfully made such 

 a cross twenty years ago. In some strains the Ham- 

 burg carriage and spread of tail are noticeable, and we 

 might add, the Hamburg comb and lobes are also in evi- 

 dence. Others again assert that rose combs are due to 

 the visual influence in breeding, among the latter being 

 Mr. Henry M. Ladd, of Cleveland, Ohio, who, in the Sep- 

 tember 21, 1901, issue of the "American Fancier," con- 

 tributed the following article on this subject: 



I have mj'self produced as fine Rose Comb White 

 Leghorns as you would ever wish to see, simply by visual 

 influence, without the introduction of any other blaod 

 than that of the Single Comb White Leghorn bred in line 

 for many years, with never a rose comb in it. How was 

 this done? Simply by having a pen of White Leghorns 

 next to a pen of White Wyandottes in which was a mag- 

 nificent White Wyandotte cockerel, so beautiful, so at- 

 tractive and so seductive that one at least of the White 

 Leghorn hens could not keep her delighted eyes off from 

 him, and just at the right time when the egg was being 

 endowed with life lie appeared in sight to fill the eye. and 

 as a result Rose Comb White Leghorns, perfect Leghorns 

 in type, size, shape and everything, bred in single comb 

 line throughout a long ancestry, but topped off now for 

 the first time with a handsome rose comb. I have been 

 able to produce several such handsome male birds, ob- 

 tained solely in this wav. and I am of the opinion that 

 Rose Comb White Leghorns bred in this way will prove 

 more reliable as breeders of the rose comb variety, than 

 those originally obtained by a mixture of diflterent breeds. 

 I believe them to be very highly valuable birds, worth 

 many times what an ordinary rose comb is worth — in fact, 

 I would not have an ordinary rose comb. In this case the 

 blood is pure and the visual influence pervasive and 

 deeply stamping into the very being of the bird the rose 

 comb tendency. Where it is the result of the introduction 

 of other blood the rose comb tendency is only partial and 

 fractional. 



Rose Comb Buff Leghorns were produced by cross- 

 ing Single Comb Buffs with Rose Comb Leghorns — at 

 least, that is the claim made by some of the early breeders 

 of the variety. But it is generally believed that some of 

 the eastern strains of Rose Comb Buffs were made by 

 using Bufif Wyandottes and Single Comb Buff Leghorns. 

 the large bodies, good color, heavy coarse combs, and 

 almost reddish ear lobes, indicating the blood of the 

 larger breed mentioned — at least in the specimens we 

 handled ten years ago. Since that time they have been 

 toned down and refined into true Leghorn type. 



Non-Standard Varieties of Leghorns 



There are eight varieties of Leghorns that are not 

 classed at present among the Standard-bred Leghorns; 

 namely. Cuckoo or Dominique, Blues, Golden Duckwing. 

 Red Pyle, Columbian, Birchen, Mottled or Spangled, and 

 Rose Comb Black. The very latest variety is the Red 

 Leghorn now being perfected in this country. Of the 



