CHAPTER V 



Buff Leghorns of the Past 



History of the Early Importations. Improvement in Type and Color Made by American Fanciers. Results 

 Obtained by a Pioneer Breeder and Fancier ■with Imported English Leghorns. 



Professor W. P. Wheeler 



Ix\ REGARD to the Buff Leghorns, I think about the 

 first shown on this side were those in a pen at New 

 York in the winter of 1890-1891 (?) These August 

 D. Arnold imported from a dealer in England, and not, I 

 tliink, a breeder. They were almost anything, however, 

 except buff. That year, soon after the show, I think, he 

 imported much better birds— the best he could get from 

 Mrs. Lister-Kay and others. 



In 1891 I imported from the yards of Mrs. Lister- 

 Kay, a male and two females (young of preceding year) 

 for Mr. Bishop of Verona, 



who bred Buff Leghorns 

 for several years, but did 

 not exhibit. He got stock 

 — or rather eggs — liber 

 ally from Mr. .\rnok' that 

 fii St year. 



As you might expect 

 very few real Buffs w ere 

 raised anywhere for se\ 

 eral years. Mr. .\rnold 

 imported freely for a few 

 years, bringing over in 

 1892 some of the best ex 

 hibition females he could 

 obtain, and a few exhibi- 

 tion males. His later im- 

 portations were alto- 

 gether from the yards of 

 Mrs. Lister-Kay, I be- 

 lieve. 



In 1892 I imported 

 from the yards of Mrs. 

 Lister-Kay a breeding 

 cockerel for Mrs. Wheeler 

 — the best bird for breed- 

 ing I knew of, and I still 

 think about the best then 

 available anywhere. He 

 was a very dark bird, al- 

 most red, but very useful 

 at that time, being of solid 

 color and fairly even — a 

 combination of not any 

 too frequent appearance. 

 This bird was mated dur- 

 ing the early part of 1893 

 with hens from Mr. 

 Bishop, and later in the 



season, with a few of Mr. .Arnold's best hens — Mr. .Arnold 

 and Mrs. Wheeler both hatching chicks from this mating. 

 .\ few very good colored young birds were grown that year, 

 but of course they were a very small percentage of the total. 



Early in 1894 and later I got from England, for Mrs. 

 Wheeler, three more females — one of them a Palace win- 

 ner of a cup and first elsewhere, an exceptionally fine bird, 

 although better from the English point-of-view than from 

 that of our show rooms. This hen died before any chicks 

 were secured from her, unfortunately. 



BUFF LEGHORN COCK 

 One of the best colored males ever exhibited at New 

 ■th as a breeder, being the sire of i 



We did not go outside of the United States again for 

 stock. I helped Mrs. Wheeler in mating and looking after 

 her birds from the first, and later, owing to Mrs. 

 Wheeler's ill health, have taken entire charge of them. 

 We never sold any eggs and have sold no birds for many 

 years. We have kept the Buffs as pure as when intro- 

 duced into the United States, and we have kept them 

 somewhere near the upper level of the breed, for we keep 

 very few and only breed from a small pen of the best we 

 have. But I have had neither the time nor opportunity to 

 look up, always, satisfac- 

 tory birds when new 

 Idood was needed, so have 

 not bred every time as I 

 should consider best. 



Several of the parents 

 —three generations back 

 — of the Buffs I first im- 

 ported were brought into 

 England from Denmark, 

 I think, about 1888. These 

 were ancestors of Ar- 

 nold's best birds also. In 

 the earlier breeding of the 

 Buffs the best colored 

 birds as to plumage, came 

 usually with willow or 

 greenish legs, or were of 

 a type not Leghorn, with 

 softer feathering and 

 clumsier shape. Of the 

 progeny those most typi- 

 cal of the Leghorn were 

 given to an excess of 

 white in plumage. In the 

 earlier breeding the males 

 were perhaps better than 

 females, except for the 

 irreat prevalence of white 

 in tail plumage, and fewer 

 .if the males were saved 

 tor breeders, of course. It 

 was advised by Mrs. 

 Lister-Kay that late 

 hatching be practiced in 

 May, which was late for 

 England, as the chicks 

 then would follow more 

 closely the better color of 

 the sire. Results were generally in accord with this ad- 

 vice, I believe, and I suspect still hold true for a majority 

 of the matings, when it is followed. 



Aside from their interest to the fancier, the Buffs 

 were popular with some poultrymen because of their busi- 

 ness capabilities. The Buffs kept by the late Ezra Cor- 

 nell at Ithaca and by T. E. Sherman at Franklinville, were 

 good egg machines, and Mrs. Wheeler's birds were also. 

 I do not remember how Mr. Arnold found them in this 

 respect. 



