THE LEGHORNS 



17 



the Continent many years before it appeared in England. 

 Though popularly known on the Continent as "Chamois," 

 they were usually described in Denmark as "Yellows," and 

 in the famous show at Copenhagen, in July, 1885, two 

 pens so described were shown, it must be said, however, 

 that only since their introduction into this country has 

 there been any approach to a solid buff color, for the 

 continental Chamois invariably had a white tail and 

 flights, besides, in most cases, the buflf color being prac- 

 tically a lacing, and the center of each feather being white 

 or cream color. 



Mr. L. C. Verrey was one of the first to exhibit Buffs 

 here, but the first importer — who by his own claim 

 brought his first Buffs to England some weeks before Mr. 

 Verrey— was Mr. T. Penfold-Field. Both these gentle- 

 men showed Buffs for the first time at the L. P. R. and A. 

 Club Show held at Derby in December, 1888. The former 

 failed to score with a cockerel, but secured second and 

 "highly commended" with pullets. The latter gentleman's 

 exhibits did not gain any recognition from the judge 



We believe it was Mr. Field who sold and shipped to 

 August D. Arnold the pen of Buft Lc^h rns hr t exhib 

 ited at the new Mad- 

 ison Square Garden in 

 1891. They resembled 

 White Pyles more than 

 they did Buffs, and did 

 not meet with a favor- 

 able reception. But Mr. 

 Arnold, whose pluck 

 and persistence are 

 well known, made other 

 importations the year 

 following and succeed- 

 ed in obtaining some 

 really strong colored 

 Buflf Leghorns from 

 Mrs. Lister-Kay, in- 

 cluding the Crystal 

 Palace winners. As we 

 judged the Leghorn 

 classes at Xew York 

 in those years, we had 

 an excellent opportun- 

 ity of handling and 



examining the new buff variety. The males were quite 

 rich and fairly sound in surface color, and very strong in 

 undercolor; although some showed considerable slate in 

 the latter. The birds were quite large and rat'ier heavy 

 in body, having very large, coarse and heavy combs, the 

 tails being none too well furnished, and carried rather 

 high. The same defects were noticeable in the females, 

 but in a lesser degree. But such good fanciers as Arnold, 

 Wheeler, and Shepherd soon refined the crude type 

 to the .American Standard ideal of shape; so that after 

 1895 the improvement of the Buff in color and shape was 

 rapid. The illustration, P'ig. 6, of Mrs. W. P. Wheeler's 

 first prize cockerel at Madison Square Garden, New York, 

 1894, is a good portrait of the male type in vogue at that 

 period. .A comparison of this type with the jnodern. 

 Standard-bred Buff Leghorn winners at our leading 

 shows, will convey the great progress made in the past 

 fifteen years, in shape of body, carriage and shape of tail, 

 and in comb and head points. 



That the English strains of Buff Leghorns were of 

 different blood from the Danish "Chamois," there can be 

 no doubt, the heavy bodies, greater size and large combs 

 being foreign to the yellow fowls of Denmark. Lewis 

 Wright, in his book, "The Practical Poultry Keeper," 

 London, England, 1899, remarks: "Buff Leghorns have 

 become very numerous and popular. They appear to have 



SINGLE COMB BUFF LEGHORNS. 1800. 



been bred from Italian stock, crossed with weedy Buflf 

 Cochins. The crossing has introduced much difficulty ii> 

 breeding sound, rich buff unmixed with white or black; 

 but the color seems to suit the close plumage of this 

 fowl particularly well." 



This Cochin-Italian cross furnished the lound.ition 

 blood of the present day Buff Leghorn, but the introduc- 

 tion of American White and Brown Leghorn blood into 

 some strains, we suspect, did more to improve the shape 

 and style of the Buff Leghorns in this country, than the 

 careful selection, year after year, of the most typical 

 specimens in the progeny of the English strain of Buflf 

 Leghorns alone. 



But, while the Buff Leghorns of today may be the 

 lineal descendants of those imported from England and 

 exhibited in 1892, and afterward in America, their pro- 

 genitors cannot claim to have been the first Buff Leg- 

 horn exhibited in this or any other country. As far 

 back as 1869 Single 

 Comb Buff Leghorns 

 were exhibited at New 

 Haven, Conn., by John. 

 G. Moore, and 1871 C. 

 E. ^Clinton, who was 

 Secretary of the Con- 

 necticut State Poultry 

 .Association, exhibited 

 a string of Buff Leg- 

 horns at the New 

 Haven show. They 

 were smaller than the 

 Buff Leghorns of to- 

 day, but were fairly 

 good in color. We are 

 indebted to the late C. 

 P. Nettleton, Shelton,. 

 Conn., for the above 

 facts, the latter being, 

 substantiated by several 

 clippings from the New 

 Haven papers of that 

 period, which printed the awards and reports of the exhi- 

 bition held in their city in 1869 and 1871. 



That this purely American strain of Leghorns was 

 allowed to "fall by the wayside" will be regretted by 

 Leghorn breeders of this country, from a lentimental,. 

 if not from a practical standpoint. 



The First Black Leghorns 

 Black Leghorns probably antedated the white and 

 brown varieties in their origin, as they appeared to have 

 been quite common in Italy long before they became 

 known as Leghorns, or the other varieties were found. 

 But their actual appearance as a recognized Standard/ 

 variety was in 1874. The "Poultry World" of December, 

 1875, gives the following history of Black Leghorns: 



The first importation of this breed from Italy, regu- 

 larly bred from, of which we have any authentic account, 

 was made in 1871, by Mr. Reed Watson, although stray 

 specimens of black or very dark fowls were no ^ doubt 

 brought over at various earlier times. Saunders' "Do- 

 mestic Poultry," published in 1866, says: 



"There have been several importations of the common 

 fowls of Leghorn and vicinity, made of late. These birds 

 are of all colors except black." By which we infer that 

 the breed under consideration was at that time unknown 

 to the author cited. Wright makes no mention of any 

 Leghorns of this character. There are traditions, how- 

 ever, of several dark or black hens having been found 

 among the Brown Leghorns brought to this country at 



