THE LEGHORNS 



winning males. The White Leghorn head is of a cock- 

 erel that won first at both the Dairy and Crystal Palace 

 Shows, England. He was bred by Whitaker and Toot- 

 hill. Poole, Leeds. This head is not an extreme type but 

 the desired type in England, this bird having won (in ad- 

 dition to the above) 1st at both the Leghorn Club and the 

 White Leghorn Club shows, and special for the best bird 

 in the Crystal Palace Show, 1910. 



Brown Leghorns at the Royal Show 

 The Brown Leghorn males at the Royal were 



bit 

 shorter on leg and not as long in back as the Whites, and 

 the Brown females were finer in bone and more after our 

 Leghorn type. But, in color and 

 feather markings, the males offer a , — 

 contrast to American ideals. The top 

 color is light — about the color of our 

 pullet breeding males — and the saddle 

 is of this orange color without the 

 black striping. 



The Blacks 



The Black Leghorns numbered 

 about the same as the White and 

 Brown. With the S fold in their 

 comb, their rather long backs and big 

 size, the females are well nigh identi- 

 cal to the English Minorca type. The 

 males are somewhat shorter in back 

 and leg than the Minorcas, yet like 

 the other varieties, they are styled 

 after the Minorca fashion with their 

 heavy comb, large lobes, long wattles, 

 rectangular body without the concave 

 sweep to tail, and rather heavy bone. 

 The Buffs 



The Buff Leghorn which has 

 come to hold a place in America sec- 

 ond only to the White variety, was 

 originated in England. Those at the 

 Royal were of the rich surface color 

 which the English prefer. On the 

 other hand, the under-color was lighter in the females 

 as the judges are not so critical as to the shade of the 

 under-plumage. 



A New Variety, the Blue 



The Blue Leghorns shown were of a solid color, free 

 from lacing. The variety came from a cross of Black and 

 White Leghorns, so in type and size the Blues are about 

 what the English seek in this breed. 



Blue is the most difficult of the two composite colors, 

 buff and blue, to breed. The one comes as a mixture of 

 red and white while the latter comes from the crossing of 

 black and white fowls. 



Blue is a color that is difficult to establish in a va- 

 riety, for there is always a strong tendency toward black 

 and white, and after selective breeding has been carried 

 on for a number of years, the color is secured on only a 

 fair number of birds in each brood. Therefore, the Blue 

 Leghorn with only a few years of breeding behind it will 

 perhaps not be taken up in America with the enthusiasm 

 that was accorded its predecessor, the Buff Leghorn — -at 

 least, not yet. 



I visited one breeder of the variety in England who 

 told me that his matings in 1910 were a failure. He had 

 penned a blue male with blue females, and many of the 

 progeny were white and the best of the youngsters were 

 too light in color. So this year he headed his yard with 

 a black male and mated him to rather light blue females, 

 and the result was far better. 



If blue as a plumage color could be perfected, if pea- 

 cock blue could be bred, the birds that wore it would rival 

 the most pleasing color schemes that we enjoy in our 

 most attractive varieties. 



But, intricate and beset with discouragements as its- 

 breeding problem now is, blue is essentially a color for 

 the novice. The development of each 

 of the colors and feather markings 

 can be traced to an early period when 

 they were still crude, unestablished 

 and often undetermined in all particu- 

 lars, and then their development — I 

 think— cannot be attributed to breed- 

 ers who had acquired skill from 

 the long breeding of some other 

 variety, but must be credited to pro- 

 gressive, studious, persistent begin- 

 ners who taking up the race when it- 

 was young became familiar with the- 

 tendencies in its breeding, became ab- 

 sorbed in their task, and at last be- 

 came masters of the color. 

 ] In the past I have too often said 



I of this or that fowl: "It is not the 

 fowl for the beginner," but if those 

 who are coming on did not take up- 

 the new, who would? Henceforth I 

 think it would be well to say of these 

 new races: "It is the fowl for the pro- 

 gressive, earnest, persistent man with 

 whom commercialism is not an imme- 

 diate consideration." 



SHORN HK.VD The Silver Leghorn 



A Silver Leghorn cockerel and 

 pullet with ratlier neat heads were shown at the Royal. 

 As the silvery tone of name would imply, this is a beauti- 

 ful variety, well-deserving of more attention in America. 

 In the male, the white hackle and silvery white back, the 

 greenish black breast against which is laid a pure white 

 wing with a solid black band across it, the black body, and 

 the lustrous black tail; in the female the silvery head, 

 steel gray back and body, and salmon red breast, make a 

 flock of which the master is of striking color and the 

 mates of soft and tender hue. Add to this the bright red 

 comb of the Leghorn which bespeaks vigor and early ma- 

 turity, and the graceful lines and active bearing of this 

 stylish fowl. 



The Other Varieties 

 Cuckoo, Pyle and Partridge Leghorns are also bred 

 in England in limited numbers, but none were shown at 

 the Royal. A pair of each of Rose Comb Brown, White 

 and Buff Leghorns were shown and in each instance they 

 were prefaced as "American Rose Combs," for only the 

 Rose Comb Black Leghorn has a place in The Poultry 

 Club Standard. 



