48 AMERICA* POl LTRY ASSOCIATION 



produce exhibition females, of the parti-colored varieties, are the 

 sons of the best exhibition females. Therefore, if we are to 

 make a standard that will permit the highest attainments of color 

 and markings in the females of parti-colored varieties, we must 

 describe for their ideal mates, the sons of such females. Do the 

 sons of such follow very closely the present standard description, 

 and, if not, would an adequate description of the sons of females 

 of high standard quality, as we find them, be acceptable to the 

 breeders of many of the parti-colored varieties ? It must be 

 fully taken into consideration that an accurate description of 

 such must be accepted as our standard ideal, if we are to have a 

 Standard based upon the highest ideals of female plumage. 



On the other hand, if we accept the present Standard for 

 exhibition males and we propose to have a Standard that is such 

 that both exhibition males and females can be bred from a stand- 

 ard (single) mating, the description of exhibition females in the 

 (proposed) standard must coincide with the description of the 

 females that our best exhibition males produce, as the females 

 that produce our best exhibition males are always the daughters 

 of our best exhibition males. Therefore, one method of making 

 single mating feasible would be to adopt the present Standard 

 on males and for the standard females describe such females as 

 the best exhibition males produce. The adoption of such a stand- 

 ard, one based on the present exhibition males and the daughters 

 of exhibition males, would mean that the exhibition females as 

 at present described in the Standard would disappear from the 

 show room and, in all probability, from the breeding yards 

 as well. 



This might be one way of making successful single matings 

 possible ; the other, as already pointed out, might be by accepting 

 the description of the standard female and adopting in place of 

 the present description of the standard male, a description of 

 such males as the best standard female produces. 



Theoretically, a single or standard mating under these condi- 

 tions should produce standard specimens of both sexes. The 

 vital question is not, however, will a standard or single mating 

 produce standard chicks of both sexes, BUT because it is the 

 best specimens that we seek to produce for exhibition purposes 

 the question most positively becomes, will the best male mated 

 to the best female produce both the best males and the best 

 females? This is the vital question, for if the best male mated 

 to the best female would produr^ only the best males then, in 



