188 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



A pullet-bred male is the son of an exhibition or standard 

 colored female. 



The Pullet-Bred Males. These are lighter than standard 

 colored males and are sons of standard colored females. 



Sons of good exhibition females are the diametric opposites 

 of daughters of exhibition males. The sons are invariably much 

 lighter in surface color than exhibition males ; the light bars 

 are broader than the dark (Plate 45), giving the bird a much 

 mere cpenly barred appearance than the exhibition male pre- 

 sents. 



The legs and beak are usually a much deeper and clearer 

 yellow. The underbarring is not as strong and does not often 

 extend to the end of the feathers nearest the skin. 



The aim of the breeders with the most advanced ideas is, 

 however, to produce exhibition females with light and dark bars 

 of even width, but both quite narrow" (Plate 45). In doing so, 

 the sons of such females have quite naturally become more nar- 

 rowly barred as their dams improved in Standard requirements 

 or met these advanced ideas. The result is that we have today 

 much mere presentable males in our female lines than were 

 found some years ago, though they do not yet reach the ideals 

 required of an exhibition male. 



Selecting a Male to Produce Exhibition Females. If capable 

 of producing females which breeders, exhibitors and judges 

 desire at the present time, an ideal male for pullet matings must 

 possess barring of nearly equal width, evenly spaced over a 

 large portion of the feather, be evenly colored on the surface and 

 not weak in neck or breast, as they are likely to be. They should 

 have well-marked secondaries, as these show beautifully on the 

 females if the barring on each feather is properly placed, so 

 that they overlap and run parallel to one another. 



A good wing-bay will often show these clear, distinct bars. 

 The flights of the male should also be distinctly marked, with 

 the black markings predominating, but the white should be 

 quite clear and the black very strong, stopping short of a lustre, 

 however. 



Males whose dams are nearly ideal exhibition specimens, 

 when mated to splendid exhibition females, seldom fail to pro- 

 duce a fair proportion of exhibition females. Some are, how- 

 ever, much better producers than others. There is a tendency 

 for the light bars to become cloudy or indistinct and the finer 

 the bars become, the greater this tendency. To obviate this 



