100 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



out for a moderate size. Oilman was at the same time straining 

 every nerve to produce clear yellow legs and beaks. 



One of the steps of this stage was to develop a family or line 

 of birds that would breed cockerels and pullets of the same shade 

 of color. To accomplish this a constant endeavor was main- 

 tained to breed the cockerels darker and the pullets lighter. 

 This step has been described in previous pages, and will be more 

 or less often discussed in its various connections. After a time, 

 however, males and females that matched tolerably well were 

 bred by many persons and accompanying that achievement came 

 better and clearer surface color and more distinct markings. 



Yet much was left to be desired in these and many other 

 directions. Underbarring, referred to at that time as under 

 color, was weak, the bars extending but little below the surface 

 of the plumage and failing by considerable to extend through- 

 out the entire length of the feathers. For a time many of the 

 females had no more than three dark bars. To develop under- 

 barring over the entire length of the feather occupied the atten- 

 tion of the best breeders for several years. 



The third period was then one in which improvement along 

 the lines indicated in the preceding paragraph proceeded until 

 real excellencies were developed to such an extent that the best 

 exhibition specimens had in reality become good specimens, even 

 when measured by our present Standard. Shape became more 

 uniform and has steadily grown more so, and today, as judged 

 by our best exhibitions, no variety is as uniform in this partic- 

 ular as the Barred Plymouth Rock. In this period of the Barred 

 Plymouth Rock, undercolor became good, surface color clear, 

 bars distinct and brassiness in male birds disappeared. All this 

 has been accomplished during the first fifteen or twenty years of 

 the breed's existence. When these excellencies began to show 

 signs of approaching an accomplishment in a degree of approxi- 

 mate satisfaction, more attention was paid to the sharp definition 

 and direction of the barring than heretofore. Straightening the 

 bars and acquiring sharp definition to the edges of bars may be 

 said to have been the fourth stage in the development of Barred 

 Plymouth Rock plumage. 



The fifth, or present stage, seems to be occupied by an en- 

 deavor to maintain all the excellencies of the past and, further, 



