106 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



and 1878, although May has been credited with having made the mat- 

 ings at his home place in Natick. Felch and May had the Pitman 

 stock, and it had been so well bred that it controlled the color in 

 their flocks, and by amalgamating the Drake blood with the Upham- 

 Pitman line, they produced such phenomenal birds that the appellation 

 "Essex Country Strain" by which Pitman had designated this stock, 

 was dropped, and Felch took the title "Essex strain." 

 From 1876 to 1878, according to Felch, was: 



The most notable time from the transformation from the crude to phenomenal 

 perfection, since which time the Plymouth Rock has received the homage of Ameri- 

 can breeders and has been accepted by them as a breed strictly first class in merit 

 and having all the characteristics of a pure breed. The fanciers of America builded 

 better than they Iknew when they took up the crossbred denizens of New England 

 farms and by their skill and perseverance secured the results to be seen in the 

 Plymouth Rock. 



Other sources of origin. A great many other breeders participated 

 in the breeding of Barred Plymouth Rocks. Some claimed to be 

 originators, and the fact of the matter was, that both the fundamental 

 hawk-colored stock and Asiatic stock existed in many communities. 

 Felch records that the gray-blue color of the Barred Plymouth Rocks 

 of different breeders "came through several different sources, but its 

 fixed color came through the blood of the old New England Domi- 

 nique males in nearly all families and strains." He then states that 

 facts gleaned by him in 1870, at the time of the advent of the breed, 

 indicate different elements figuring in the make-up of the breed, which 

 were combined somewhat as follows: 



1. Black Spanish the old Minorca red-faced Spanish on Buff 

 Cochins or Shanghais. 



2. Black Spanish on English Gray Dorking, top crossed with Ameri- 

 can Dominiques. 



3. Black Spanish on White Cochins, top crossed with American 

 Dominiques. 



4. American Dominiques mated to Buff Cochins, the progeny in- 

 bred. 



5. White Birminghams, a name given by Felch to White Brahmas 

 on Black Javas of 1850, top crossed with American Dominiques. 

 These Javas, says Felch, were "an Asiatic product with feathered 

 shanks. They were swallowed up in the Black Cochins at the time 

 our first Standard was made and their identity lost." 



6. White Birmingham on Black Javas, the females mated to males 

 from group 5. 



These numerous crosses suggest many centers of origin. It is 

 plain that all of the early Plymouth Rocks were crossbreds, but the 

 stock so originated had qualities of usefulness that overcame all 

 prejudice and the new breed gained favor on its merits. In the fancy 

 today, the Plymouth Rock is no longer looked upon as a mongrel, 

 but as a high-type, productive thoroughbred. Condemned by some 

 as a mongrel on the start, yet the breed has triumphed. As the 



