THE LEGHORNS 



the upper half of the tail proper 

 plumage is exposed. Properly carried 

 sickles rest against the upper pair of 

 main tail feathers nearly or quite to 

 the tips, bending so as to form a 

 curve like a sickle from which they 

 take their name. 



j English Leghorns Often Large 



I Comparatively large sized Leg- 

 horns are often exhibited in England. 

 All that we have ever seen of them 

 possessed coarse, angular forms, very 

 much inclined to what American fan- 

 ciers consider distinctly Minorca 

 shape. Xo. 6, a cock bird, is an illus- 

 tration of one of these large Leg- 

 horns. The character of the head 

 points, the long, angular lines of the 

 body, wings and legs as well as the 

 texture of the plumage, all would 

 have stamped this bird as a Minorca 

 if his yellow legs were not considered. 

 See illustrations 6 and 7. 



No. 7 was a promising cockerel 

 that would later exhibit much the 



the same type as No. 6, but his head points were not so 

 coarse. The serrations of the comb, however, resemble 

 that of the Minorca in their "circular, saw tooth" arrange- 

 ment instead of the points leaning backward to the rear of 

 the blade. The shoulders of this cockerel are not so de- 

 cidedly prominent and angular as those of No. 6. 



Some British authorities attribute this prominent an- 

 gular character of shoulder to Malay blood, but we have 

 not yet seen specimens that showed indications of the in- 

 troduction of blood other than Mediterranean and from 

 the Minorca. The principal objections offered against the 

 large angular birds have been that they matured late and 

 did not prove to be such good layers as birds of the gen- 

 erally accepted Standard type for Leghorns. These are 

 serious defects when we consider that the main economic 

 claims for Leghorns are early maturity and egg produc- 

 tion. It means simply that their most valuable character- 

 istics have been lost or diminished in value. 



In 1903, at Boston, before the demand for much lower 

 tails had been widely felt, one of the most attractive males 

 of the year was shown by Chas. J. Fogg. It was of service- 

 able type with full breast and good breadth of body ex- 



S'o. 7— A 1905 English cockerel 



long back and low tail, in tr£ 



exhibit an exceedingly low 



lis cockerel did not lift his t; 



tending well back, and he had a 

 wealth of long saddle feathers. The 

 tail is a little above the angle of 

 forty-five degrees (at that time pop- 

 ular) and the sickles extend well up 

 against the tail proper and are of 

 good length and show a beautiful 

 curve. Three side hangers on the side 

 portrayed are well developed, but the 

 absence of the lowest or fourth 

 hanger leaves an opening in what 

 otherwise would have been a very 

 well furnished tail. If the bird had 

 had just a trifle longer body and 

 higher station with a little lower tail 

 and the saddle curving up with 

 smoother finish against the root of 

 the tail, this cockerel might have been 

 a dangerous competitor in eastern 

 shows. The change suggested in this 

 bird would have helped him to ap- 

 proach the type of No. 15. 



In group 1, No. 5 is a portrait of 

 a prize cock at Chicago, 1905, when 

 the eflfects of the demand for lower 

 tails had begun to be seen at the 

 larger shows. If this cock had had a finer head and had 

 been properly conditioned foi exhibition, he would have 

 been a worthy specimen. As some expert conditioners 

 vyould express it, "He was spoiled in the tub" or rather "in 

 the drying," for his tine tail is badly disarranged, the upper 

 side hangers taking a position down over the lowest 

 hangers and the saddle falling away at either side of the 

 root of the tail, exposing it instead of curving up in a 

 smooth concave finish over the fluffy roots of the tail 

 plumage. It has grown to be a commonly accepted idea! 

 with leading Leghorn exhibitors that the perfectly finished 

 saddle and tail must join in curved lines. To do this the 

 saddle plumage of both sexes must be profuse and 

 smoothly cover the roots of the tail. Such a long plumaged 

 tail carried so low would be greatly valued by some breed- 

 ers whose stock birds persist in carrying their tails too 

 erect and who fail to develop proper length of sickles and 

 side hangers. However, such unusually long sickles as ap- 

 pear on this specimen are not ideal sickles. Those 

 on Nos. 4, 13, 17 and 21 are rather the proper 

 length and show more nearly the proper curve for Leg- 

 horns. 



Group 2— Nos S to 12; No. S was the cock heading first pen at the Boston show, 1905. No. 9, "Edna," was a long bodied, low 

 tailed hen for her time. She showed the progression being made and was of great value in establishing her type in one 

 of the most successful strains of today. Nos. 10. 11 and 12 were 1905 New York and Boston winners. After that year - 

 noticeable change in favor of lower 

 She was one of the 



and 12 were 1905 New York and Boston 

 __ .- -. tails was observed. No. 11 is a close approach to an ideal Leghorn of her time— 1905. 

 symmetrical females that has ever appeared. 



