218 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



almost perfect male, bought as a cockerel and cock, was of pure 

 Premier ancestry, and he was bred to this pullet, his mother and 

 two sisters. Upon checking up the pedigrees of the Sunbrier strain 

 a year later, all the best birds were from Sunbrier and the Virginia 

 State Fair pullet, and the offspring from all the other birds was 

 culled out. 



As the Virginia pullet had gone through several hands before it 

 reached Mr. Schoen, then located in West Virginia, it was not pos- 

 sible to trace her birthplace, although the direction pointed east. A 

 great possibility exists that this pullet had the blood of the eastern 

 strain. 



Writing of the future, Mr. Schoen says: 



During the breeding season of 1920, E. G. Lapham's famous cockerel, winning 

 2d at the 1920 Club show, the greatest ever held, was bred to a Sunbrier hen and 

 after a cockerel from this mating has been bred back to his mother, the Lapham 

 strain will be brought into the Sunbrier flock. The Lapham cockerel was from 

 a strong female line and we think that by getting his blood into our flock, our 

 strain will exceed anything in existence, as our males are already dominating 

 the shows. We won last year 1st, 3d cockerel at the Club show and best colored 

 male in a class of 110. 



Correct color for Partridge Wyandottes. When the variety was 

 first admitted to the Standard, edition of 1902, the neck of the ideal 

 male was described as "red," the back "dark red"; the female was 

 described as "mahogany red or reddish brown." With passing years 

 the black has remained pretty much the same. It is the tone of red 

 that really matters. In the 1905 Standard no changes were made. 

 In 1910 the neck of the male was described as "bright red" and the 

 back as "dark red," making a two-color bird as before. The dark 

 back satisfied the western breeders; the bright neck appeased the 

 eastern breeders. The female to go with this male was "mahogany 

 brown." 



The 1916 Standard was a long step in advance. It called for a 

 male of the same shade of red in neck as in back, and that shade 

 was to be "bright red." The female description, however, remained 

 old-fashioned, i.e., "mahogany brown." This word "mahogany" has 

 been a stumbling block to progress, for it has in the past led breeders 

 to produce too dark a ground color. The majority of breeders in the 

 middle west held to the dark female, but all were now ready to accept 

 a brighter colored male. However, in 1917 the National Partridge 

 Wyandotte Club prepared a club standard which called for a female 

 that was of a "rich reddish brown color." While words are more or 

 less elastic, this club description fits the winning females as well as 

 any phrase ever penned. 



There has been great improvement in the color of males. Dark 

 mahogany wing bows have been the last to go. One thing that the 

 Partridge Wyandotte breeder should see in his dreams is a shade of 

 color that is exactly the same over neck, back, saddle and wing 

 bows, and the breeder of today must work to produce such a bird. 



