PLYMOUTH ROCK STANDARD AND BREED BOOK 149 



should detect every fault known to a barred feather. But it is 

 not often that a novice discovers one-half, or even one-fourth of 

 them. For this reason, instruction along this line is necessary 

 and an enumeration of all the faults of both characters that com- 

 monly occur is advisable. It is natural that we should discuss 

 the colors before the barring, because it is the difference or con- 

 trast between the two colors that is in reality the making of 

 the bars. 



The Ground Color. This is described as grayish-white and 

 we call grayish-white the ground color, not because the Standard 

 uses the term "ground color," but because the plumage is de- 

 scribed as "grayish white, each feather crossed by, etc.," which 

 indicates clearly enough that grayish-white is the major or 

 ground color. It must be considered not absolutely independ- 

 ently, but in connection with its relation to the "dark bars that 

 stop short of positive black." Grayish-white is very near white. 

 The nearer white we get the light bar or ground color, the 

 greater the contrast between the light and dark bars that is, 

 when the dark bars retain the same intensity; contrast, within 

 certain limits which are fittingly governed by the Standard de- 

 scription, is desired, as it adds much to the attractiveness of the 

 birds. Breeders speak admirably of this or that specimen be- 

 cause of "such a snappy contrast," and the expression is truly 

 expressive of a condition that is a creator of beauty in a Barred 

 Plymouth Rock. 



Formerly the Standard description read a bluish-white, but 

 this modified the pure white more than the term "grayish" and 

 consequently was changed because it did not furnish as great a 

 contrast and therefore not as "snappy" barring. 



The Dark Bar. There is much to notice in the Standard 

 maker's selection of the term. It carefully avoids the word black, 

 except to say that positive black is what the bar must not be. 

 This clause, "stop short of positive black," prohibits all lustre, 

 sheen, or gloss. For the sake of contrast, however, it is desirable 

 to approach if not to attain a positive black. One writer has 

 stated this proposition in these words: "The whiter the white 

 bar and the darker the dark bar, the more beautiful the bird." 

 It is certainly true that the converse of what was stated about 

 the light bar is true of the dark bar that is, the darker they 

 are the greater the contrast between the dark and light bars ; 

 provided, of course, that the light bars are of the same shade 

 in all cases. Previous Standards have described the dark bar as 



