PLYMOUTH ROCK STANDARD AND BREED BOOK 317 



greenish-black striping of the hackle, neck, sickles and tail- 

 coverts of both sexes be produced and maintained from genera- 

 tion to generation. 



An understanding of the color faults and excellencies of each 

 of the principal sections is necessary in order that the breeder 

 may mate his birds in a manner that will produce satisfactory 

 results. Therefore, a discussion of these features will be entered 

 into in some detail. 



Neck of Males. Because of its beauty when approaching the 

 ideal in color and markings, and the difficulty encountered in 

 breeding the neck feathers to such an approximation of the ideal 

 that they can be called beautiful, this section when it possesses 

 quality enough to deserve it, is very much appreciated and is, 

 therefore, very important. 



The Black Stripe. The Standard calls for feathers of "solid, 

 lustrous, greenish-black, with a narrow edging of white, uniform 

 in width, extending around the point of the feather" ; in other 

 words, this calls, as former Standards have stated it, for a "solid, 

 lustrous greenish-black stripe down the center of the feather 

 and with a narrow, white border extending around the point of 

 the feather." 



From this description it would be easy to infer that the black 

 must not be dull and lifeless, neither must it have a brown 

 shading ; it must not be broken, at least near the surface, because 

 if any of these attributes are present, the description of the 

 Standard, i. e., solid, lustrous, greenish-black, is not complied 

 with. 



The Border. As to the border, this should be white above 

 all things. Straw color or brassy shades are not tolerated and, 

 if present, should be cut so severely that the class in which a 

 specimen with this fault can win must be a very inferior one, 

 indeed. Besides, the border must be narrow. Narrow is, of 

 course, used comparatively. It refers to the border according to 

 the Standard description, and as the remainder of the feather is 

 black, the black stripe in the center must be relatively broad. 

 Such are the ideals of the present time; a broad, black stripe 

 edged with a narrow white border. 



The white border should extend around the point from both 

 sides of the feather. This results in a feather with a white 

 border around a V-shape point of black, near the lower extremity 

 of this feather, but not at the extremity. This is one of the 

 difficult features to establish, because there is a strong tendency 

 for the black to run through the border to the point of the 



