338 AMERICAN POULTRY ASSOCIATION 



stripe in lower portion of lower web, producing clean white 

 surface color when wing is folded. 



General Color Markings 



"The standard Columbian Rock color markings harmonize 

 with each other. It seldom occurs that a bird is light in one 

 section and dark in another. A very dark bird generally runs 

 very dark in all sections including undercolor. My experience 

 has been that it is a serious mistake to mate a very dark male 

 bird to a very light colored female. By very dark males, I refer 

 to birds having slate or black surface color in fluff and a super- 

 fluous outcropping of black in surface of breast just below and 

 adjoining front of hackle. Such a mating will produce any- 

 thing but a uniform lot of birds and due to the well known 

 fact that the male bird has a predominating influence in color 

 of offspring the result will be a very large percentage of smutty 

 or smoky colored birds, which to my mind is the most dis- 

 tasteful as well as discouraging experience a beginner can have. 

 On the other hand birds too light in color, although more pleas- 

 ing to the eye, also have a number of defects such as poor wing 

 color and undercolor, which today are carefully considered by 

 the judge. The standard calls for "bluish-slate" undercolor for 

 all parts of body except breast, where "bluish-white" is called 

 for. Good undercolor invariably accompanies not only good 

 surface color but good wing color, and when both male and 

 female (as well as generations before them) possess these charac- 

 teristics, there is little chance of offspring breeding lighter in 

 color. My experience has been it is not necessary that the birds 

 in the breeding pens should have stronger color markings than 

 that which it is desired to produce in the offspring. This idea 

 originated with the old-time Light Brahma breeders, who, 

 although they accomplished wonders, and to whom we are 

 indebted for many good points in Columbian Rocks, paid little 

 attention to saddle striping, and still less to undercolor such as 

 is required by the latest Plyniouth Rock Standard Breed Book. 

 These features were carefully considered by the 1915 Revision 

 Committee of the American Poultry Association, which required 

 that stronger undercolor should prevail in certain sections while 

 still demanding a surface of clear white in these sections. 1 

 believe in the principle, 'Breed as you exhibit and exhibit as 

 you breed.' Both brassiness and gray in sickle feathers can be 

 overcome by using stronger undercolored birds as breeders." 



