PLYMOUTH ROCK STANDARD AND BREED BOOK 293 



ance, are not desired for the reason that there is little contrast 

 between the mahogany ground color and the pencilings. 



Irregularities of Pencilings. Aside from being weak in 

 color, irregularities take many and varied forms. In substance, 

 however, one description, namely, failing to follow the outline 

 of the feather, covers them all. Occasionally, pencilings will 

 vary so from their true course that they will run straight across 

 the feathers as barring does. This is far from what is desired. 

 Other pencilings will break, leaving a space, while others zig- 

 zag around instead of having a clean, straight outline. Again, 

 one edge, usually the outer, will have sharp definition, while the 

 other is inclined to rather gradually run into the ground color. 

 All these faults and others must be bred out by selection of both 

 male and female parents. (See illustration, Plate 98.) 



Too Few Pencilings. The Standard requires each feather in 

 the penciled sections to have three or more distinct pencilings. 

 As a rule, when the pencilings are more than this number, they 

 are not as distinct as if reduced to three or less. The fewer the 

 pencilings, the more prominent they become because they are 

 heavier or coarser. Fineness is usually acquired at the expense 

 of prominence, and on this point some difference of opinion has 

 existed as to which characteristic was the most desirable. The 

 advocates of fine pencilings have proven to be the most numer- 

 ous as well as the most influential. This much can be said as to 

 the merits of each side in the controversy. Both were trying for 

 an attribute that created beauty. The question was, which type 

 was the most striking? The advocates of more pencilings won 

 because of the particularly pleasing effect of the remarkable 

 regularity of the unique markings in even and richly contrasting 

 colors. 



