I'LYMOf-TH HOCK STANDARD AN It 11REVD HOOK 71 



the Brahmas as Winter and superior as Summer layers, not fre- 

 quent sitters, excellent mothers, great foragers and are truly the 

 farmer's fowl. Matured weights, on an average, from twenty- 

 five to thirty pounds the trio. Extra fine specimens have been 

 known to reach thirty-two pounds. 



"This, in short, is the true origin and general characteristics 

 of the genuine Plymouth Rocks of today." 



Vital Points in the Upham Account. We gather from this 

 extract several facts of which we are glad to have knowledge. 

 First, it sets the date very close to the one generally accepted 

 by interested fanciers and breeders. "Nearly ten years ago we 

 bred, named and introduced the first fowls and chicks of this 

 variety ever shown to the public . . . ." Writing this in 

 1876 would make these statements coincide with other reliable 

 data on this point. Note in this connection the statement begin- 

 ning : "In the Fall of 1866." This, then, is the date and the Fall 

 is the season when Mr. Upham produced his foundation stock. 

 It is certain that he did nothing in the line of breeding or rearing 

 during 1866 because of the lateness of the season. "We selected 

 and purchased . . . and bred them." This accounts for the 

 season of 1867, but Mr. Upham states further : "We then selected 

 the best pullets and bred them to a cock of my own raising 

 ." "The second cross from this strain produced satisfac- 

 tory results. . . ." If it was at this point that Mr. Upham 

 selected the specimen for the first public appearance of the Plym- 

 outh Rock, and it is certainly not unreasonable to presume that 

 it was, because to quote his own language, "most of their chicks 

 were of the desired color in both sexes ; very few black, and most 

 of them with legs free from feathers, and bright yellow in color," 

 and birds that bear such a description would seem to be fair 

 show specimens, especially during the formative stage in a breed. 

 March, 1869, as the date of the first appearance, coincides with 

 the facts as stated in the abstract, as chicks shown as early as 

 March, 1869, must have been reared in 1868, which coincides 

 chronologically with the above statements. We must not over- 

 look the statement which, on account of the controversy it has 

 occasioned, is the most pertinent, vital and hence the most inter- 

 esting of all the facts presented, that they were produced first 

 by a cross between a large common hawk-colored (so-called) 

 single comb Dunghill cock, with pure black Cochin hens, not 

 Java hens (which invariably have smooth legs, entirely free 

 from feathers), as this statement involves the point of a contro- 



