PLYMOt Til ROCK STANDARD AND ttRUED BOOK 105 



and with the exception of being too leggy was a fine all 'round 

 specimen. The cockerel was even superior, and for general 

 appearance as handsome as he has seen since. He thinks that 

 one exactly like him would win some of the shows of today. 



From what could be learned from literature contemporary 

 with the early Plymouth Rocks and from the early breeders, 

 some of whom have been mentioned, so closely and vitally were 

 they connected with the breed's early history, an account that 

 gives a fairly comprehensive knowledge of what may be called 

 the formative stage of this breed has been given. To follow 

 further these different strains and innumerable new ones is im- 

 possible because of the rapidity with which new breeders, new 

 strains, and representative specimens of this breed multiplied. 

 From what we have learned, however, we are safe in coming to 

 the conclusion that the evolution of the Barred Plymouth Rock 

 has had five different stages of development. 



First, acquiring the color and markings of the Hawk-colored 

 fowls which were, at the best, but mere suggestions of the plum- 

 age of our best modern Barred Plymouth Rocks, which is in 

 comparison very near to perfection itself in color and markings. 



From these early accounts it is clear that the first task was 

 to breed what Upham calls the steel-colored pullets. Both 

 Uphain and Ramsdell agree that black pullets predominated 

 among the progeny of the Spaulding cross and the writers of a 

 little later period complain of some pullets coming black and of 

 too many of the pullets being too dark. Red and black feathers, 

 light-colored tails and solid or nearly solid colored flights were 

 other features of the plumage of these birds that required time 

 and skill to eliminate. If we consider the breed to have begun 

 its career with the original Spaulding cross, the first step seems 

 to have been to secure pullets that were gray or steel-colored, 

 like the cockerels. Even then, the best of the pullets were much 

 darker than the cockerels. 



The second stage was the formative period, during which the 

 early breeders were eradicating those evils which seemed the 

 greatest, each to his individual opinion. All were clearing the 

 color to a certain extent and endeavoring to produce a clean bird 

 with distinct bars on the surface. In this particular, Mark Pit- 

 man, with his Essex County Strain, is admitted to have had the 

 lead. Some, like Drake and Ramsdell, sought to develop large, 

 rangy fowls, while on the other hand, Pitman and Oilman stood 



