PLYMOUTH ROCK STANDARD AND BREED BOOK 219 



the specimen showing the richest undercolor shall receive the 

 preference" ; the word "richest" was generally interpreted to 

 mean the darkest. This was, however, the beginning of an ad- 

 mission that undercolor in buff varieties was naturally and would 

 always be lighter than the surface color. In explanation of this 

 phenomenon, we quote the following extract from an article 

 written by the late Ezra Cornell in "The Leghorns," as follows : 



"Leghorns have comparatively hard, close fitting feathers. 

 In such feathers the coloring matter always concentrates in the 

 surface or harder part of the feather ; this is according to nature, 

 and you cannot change it. Look at some of our most highly 

 colored wild birds the Scarlet Tanager, the Oriole, or even the 

 Canary, and you will find an under color which appears white in 

 comparison to the surface. Take these same brilliant feathers 

 and lay them in the sunlight over a darker under color and you 

 wi'l deaden the color. The rays of light pass through the sur- 

 face plumage, and on striking the light under color are reflected, 

 much intensified, which gives the plumage its extreme brilliancy ; 

 whereas if the rays of light on penetrating the surface were to 

 strike a dark under color, they would be absorbed and the sur- 

 face color deadened. * * * That I have just written applies 

 especially to the females ; the males have a deeper under color, 

 but it is not so apt to be solid. Cockerels are sometimes found 

 with seme white in under color of hackle, which, as the bird 

 TOWS older, will probably appear on the surface. A male bird 

 should have sound under color. This is important, although it 

 makes little difference whether it is light or dark. The shade 

 will, as a rule, correspond with and depend on the shade of the 

 surface color." 



The reader will see no inconsistency here, because the flowing 

 plumage of the males is not as hard as that of the shorter female 

 plumage. 



The description in the 1898 Standard was better than that 

 found in the one that preceded it by ten years, in that it de 

 manded a plumage which required more skill in mating to pro- 

 duce, because absolute uniformity of color in all sections was 

 required, while chestnut tails in males were still allowed in the 

 1888 Standard, though more uniformity was demanded in this 

 edition than in those that in turn preceded it. 



From this form of progression, we perceived that a general 

 tendency toward acquiring uniformity of color in all sections 



