PLYMOUTH ROCK STAXDARD AND BREED BOOK 319 



feather; first, just on the shaft, perhaps. Then, with this ten- 

 dency, is one to extend along the very outer edges of the feather. 

 Thus, we have a black tip and a narrow black edge outside the 

 white border. Such a defective feather is shown in Plate 107, 

 Figure 2, while Figure 1 shows weak black striping, with a white 

 shaft and a border that is too wide and with it, of course, a 

 black stripe that is too narrow. 



The light shafting noticed in this figure is also defective 

 inasmuch as the Standard states, "greater portion of the shaft, 

 black." The* third feather in the row is a good natural feather, 

 but even in this, the black extends too low or too near the point. 

 The fourth feather from the left in the row shows very nearly 

 the ideal feather. Feathers in front of neck are white, the same 

 as the breast. 



Neck of the Females. The neck feathers of the female are 

 shorter and comparatively broader than those of the male. The 

 black center is also broader and the white border narrower com- 

 paratively. Such a comparison between the male and female 

 neck feathers is found to exist in a great majority of specimens 

 of this variety and such the Standard calls for, as the word 

 "broad" occurs in the Standard description of the neck of the 

 female and this word is not found in the description of necks of 

 the male. Narrow black striping with the V instead of the 

 rounded points are frequently seen in the neck feathers of 

 females and, though not strictly in accordance with the Standard 

 description, are to be much preferred to striping that, though 

 broad, is weak in color. The plumage of this section of the 

 females is very striking because of the broad, metallic black 

 with the very narrow but sound edging of pure white. A per- 

 fect resemblance between both the pattern and the color of the 

 neck and tail-coverts of the females is a noteworthy and taking 

 feature when ideals are approached. (See illustration, Plate 117.) 



Cape. The cape, or that portion of the back that falls under 

 the hackle feathers of the male and the neck feathers of the 

 female, is black and white. This portion of the back is not seen 

 when the bird stands in its natural position and on that account 

 it draws less attention than other parts of the plumage. The 

 feathers have, as a rule, a broad black center with white edging. 

 The exact proportion of black to white is not as rigidly pre- 

 scribed or enforced as in the more prominent sections, but if the 

 edging is narrow, yet clear and sound, the feathers in the cape 



