5(! 



THE LEGHORNS 



female Silver Duckwings possessing excellent shape and 

 sprightly appearance, a Duckwing-White Leghorn cross 

 was not at all improbable or impossible, where lengthen- 

 ing of back and tail of White Leghorns was the object 

 fanciers as a rule are prone to believe that the end jus- 

 tifies the means, so govern themselves accordingly. 



Lengthening and Drooping of Tails 



We call attention to this extreme lengthening and 

 drooping of the tails in modern White Leghorns, not be- 

 cause conservative judgment objects to longer tails set 

 at lower angles than the present Standard demands, but 

 as a warning to the extremists not to overdo a good thing 

 and destroy the characteristic Leghorn type. 



The first prize White Leghorn cock at New York 

 1909-10 is probably the finest living model of the fash- 

 ionable type of White Leghorns today. This bird is an 

 old one, who has been successfully bred to females, of his 

 own blood lines, reproducing in the male progeny his 

 characteristic back and tail lines. A study of the angles 

 at which these tails are carried compared with the car- 

 riage of the tails of the Standard male ideal Leghorn and 

 the Cornell winner of 1893, will show a difference of ten 

 to fifteen degrees between the fashionable modern White 

 Leghorn and the Standard and Cornell ideals. If the 

 low carried tail is the modern breeders' correct ideal, then 

 our American Standard of Perfection is incorrect in two 

 sections, namely: The angle at which the tail is carried; 

 and the length of the back. To meet the requirements 

 of the fashionable type of Leghorn males, the angle 

 should be reduced from 45 to 35 degrees, and the back in- 

 stead of being of "Moderate length" as required by the 

 revised Standard of 1910, should be "rather long." This, 

 it seems to us, would be consistent and bring the male 

 type in harmony with that of the female, the latter being 

 long in back with well spread tail, carried quite low, in 

 nearly all the winning specimens in the past ten years. It 

 is true that the new Standard describes the back of the 

 male as "sloping downward from shoulders to center of 

 back, then r'sing in a gradually increasing concave sweep 

 to tail." which fits the modern Leghorn male back line 

 nicely, and gives the whole back the appearance of being 

 rather long, but the preceding words of "moderate 

 length" do not convey clearly enough the real length of 

 the back outline. The Cornell pullet of 1893 (see Fig. 5) 

 and the Standard ideal illustration of 1905, show the de- 

 sirable length of back found in winning females today. 



To mate a comparatively short-backed male like the one 

 illustrated in the Standard of 190S with long backed fe- 

 males is not calculated to produce the best results, if 

 single matings of White Leghorns should be the rule, 

 and not the exception. 



In shape of breast and body and length of legs mod- 

 ern White Leghorns are nearly ideal, these sections 

 blending harmoniously and producing the sprightly, 

 graceful carriage that topped with a fine head and comb, 

 and a well furnished and nicely carried tail, makes the 

 Leghorn one of 

 t h e handsomest 

 and most attrac- 

 tive breeds of fowl 

 on earth. 



Improvement 



in Shape and 



Smoothness of 



Combs 



Combs in both 

 males and females 

 have improved 

 greatly in shape, 

 smoothness of tex- 

 ture and in regu- 

 larity of serrations 

 in the past fifteen 

 years. They have 

 also been bred 



down to a respect- j,jq 6_ideal white leghorn 

 able size, the old head 



larse heavv thick Winner of Special Prize at New York, 

 large, neavy, inicK 1909-10 for Best Head and Comb 



fleshed, coarsely 



serrated and thumb marked comb, common twenty or 

 more years ago having disappeared. The Standard illus- 

 tration furnished a good ideal for breeders to breed to and 

 the type is generally approved by modern fanciers of 

 White Leghorns, although such leading breeders as D. W. 

 Young and George H. Burgott believe one more point 

 should be added to the Leghorn comb, contending that 

 the first small serration is not strictly a point, no more 

 than the first notch in a saw is a tooth. We illustrate 

 herewith the winner of the special prize at the Madison 

 Square Garden, New York, 1909-1910, for the best head 

 and comb. 



Sinj^le Comb White Leghorns 



Origin and History of the Development of the Most Famous Strain of Single Comb White Leghorns 

 America— Line Breeding and Careful Selection of Sires and Dams Responsible for the 

 Great Improvement in Type and Comb— Systematic and Scientific Feeding 

 of Grains Important in Obtaining Pure White Plumage. 



HAVING bred the same strain of White Leghorns 

 for the past thirty years, it may prove interesting 

 to Leghorn breeders to know the origin of this 

 strain. It was in 1853 that Mr. W. Simpson claimed to 

 be the first breeder of White Leghorns in this country. 

 He got them from an officer of a ship, which came from 

 some Mediterranean port. About the same time Captain 

 Stratton of Lewisburg, N. Y., (a small place opposite the 

 city of Poughkeepsie) had a barkentine which sailed 

 from Leghorn, Italy, to New York, and which brought 



Youn« 



over a lot of Brown and White Leghorns or "Italians" 

 as they were known at that period. My father, S. G. 

 Young, purchased these birds and bred them at the old 

 homestead at Clintondale, Highland, New York, for many 

 years afterward, never introducing new blood except 

 through the female. It was from this flock that I started 

 my present strain, which has been kept pure, no new 

 blood having been introduced at any time in the past 

 thirty years. 



I started to improve the type of the breed at once 



