PARTRIDGE WYANDOTTES 221 



England, to buy a female or two for him; but Mr. Sewell returned 

 without making a purchase, for he could find nothing in the best yards 

 of England worthy to be introduced into Mr. Mitchell's line. And 

 so the line has been bred, on and on, within itself, and the pedigrees 

 of the individual birds have grown closer and closer. On top of 

 this, Adolph Anderson, Mr. Mitchell's poultryman, has sold time 

 and time again the best birds that he had at the shows, and people 

 have wondered how r long he could continue to sell his best and come 

 up with better Cochins the succeeding year. 



For thirteen years we have watched this line, and cannot see but 

 what the birds at Boston, 1920, were as big and strong as when we 

 first saw the Mitchell Cochins in New York, 1907. There are cockerels 

 up to eleven pounds. The judge asked Mr. Anderson to go down to 

 the secretary's office and take an oath that the pullets were pullets 

 and not little hens. 



Does inbreeding destroy the virility and growing power of a race of 

 poultry? We are forced to conclude that not inbreeding, but permit- 

 ting inferior specimens to reproduce themselves, undermines a flock, 

 and as long as a breeder has an eye for strength and size as well as 

 shape and color, he is on safe ground, be he ever so close an inbreeder. 



Inbreeding has led to uniformity in these Cochins. The first prize 

 young pen at Boston was composed of four pullets, each from a 

 different dam, and they were as nearly alike as four full sisters. 



Now, mark this well: The cockerel that headed the pen was a 

 full brother to one of the pullets. The Mitchell Partridge Cochins 

 are bred by single mating, and the finest cockerels and the finest 

 pullets come from the same mating. The first cock was the sire of 

 the first and second cockerel, and also the first, second and third 

 oullets. Mr. Anderson took the birds out of the?r cages and showed 

 us the toe punch, so that there would be no mistake. The penciling 

 on the pullets ran way down below the wings, clear on to the fluff. 

 There is one thing: Mr. Mitchell does not breed dark slate under- 

 color. Customers who wrote him for dark under-colored males mated 

 to dark under-colored females to produce more dark under-color, 

 put him out of commercial breeding years ago. Such birds are pro- 

 duced only by double mating, and this breeder does not breed his 

 birds that way. While never using white under-color, he does recog- 

 nize light slate as a desirable shade. 



No doubt double mating would result in richer colored hackles, 

 for only one pullet at Boston, 1920, suited us in this respect; but the 

 birds are a tribute to single mating. They are better than the birds 

 of all the other Partridge Cochin breeders in the world, all of whom 

 have been privileged to try out every conceivable system of mating. 

 But George H. Mitchell is a fancier and student who not only pedi- 

 grees but keeps blood lines in mind, and at the age of seventy he 

 \vrote: 



