PLYMOUTH ROCK STANDARD AND BREED BOOK 285 



Legs and Toes. The thigh is, of course, subject to the rule 

 which governs the other black sections. The legs and toes 

 should be yellow, but some of the richest colored and best pen- 

 ciled strains still show dark color on the shanks and toes. 



The Lower Sections. The under sections, breast, body and 

 fluff, should all be lustrous, greenish black. The best example 

 of what the color of these sections should be will be found in 

 the tail, which is most often highly lustrous. Brown is permitted 

 in the fluff and is often seen in the rear body feathers. Breeders 

 rather like its presence in the latter section as it seems prevalent 

 in lines or strains that produce strongly penciled females. 



The faults of the black section are purple sheen and bronze 

 bars, both of which are highly objectionable. This will be well 

 understood after consulting the chapter in the Standard on 

 "Cutting for Defects." 



THE COLOR OF THE FEMALE 



The novice would hardly regard the female of the Partridge 

 varieties as of the same variety as the male, so different are 

 the males and females in both color and markings, and we must 

 note at once the change in the Standard color requirements from 

 the rich, brilliant red of the males to the mahogany-brown of 

 the females. 



The Color of Female. The Partridge female is or should be 

 most uniform in color of all plumage, as one description an- 

 swers for all sections of plumage except the neck. Mahogany- 

 brown penciled with black is the color description for all sec- 

 tions. The head is mahogany-brown, much like the body sec- 

 tions. Only for the neck do we find a different color descrip- 

 tion and a different color term, golden bay. 



Penciling surreptitiously appears in the neck, the one lone 

 section in which it was not required. The beauty of the neck, 

 according to the old ideal, was thus sacrificed to contribute to 

 the beauty of the other sections. That being the object, ideals 

 as to the particular form and number of pencilings have become 

 very definite or exact. If these conform to the shape of the 

 feather, without any breaks, so much the better, but regular- 

 ity in penciling is usually given but slight notice, so if the 

 neck has a single penciling, well and good, if as a rarity, two, 

 so much the better. On a small feather the three that are 

 required can hardly be expected and but rarely occur. 



