SILVER PENCILED WYANDOTTES 225 



dotte blood has since been introduced into the Silver Penciled variety 

 with excellent results. It strengthens the black markings and the 

 red color is easily bred out. The early results of the cross may, 

 however, be detected by buff colored feathers on the face or the top 

 of the head of the Silver pullets. 



Mating. Ezra Cornell desired to produce the pure white and 

 pure black of the Silver Penciled Hamburg. This is the goal to aim 

 for. But a penciling so clean, so distinct on the female, leads to a 

 weakness in the black colored sections of the male. The simpler way, 

 therefore, to produce what is most desired is by the double mating 

 system. 



There is a tendency for the sound-colored exhibition males to 

 contribute too much color to their female progeny; but such dark, 

 heavily penciled hens make good cockerel breeders. They often are 

 stippled with black as well as penciled; their hackles are striped with 

 black; and their wing primaries are black edged slightly with white 

 on the lower edges. Such hens, if bred from a high-class exhibition 

 male, will produce in their cockerels solid black throats, breasts and 

 bodies, solid black wing coverts which form the wing bar, and solid 

 black tails, heavily hung about with rich black tail coverts free from 

 white splashing; and solid black striping in neck and back, free from 

 white quills or "shafting." The pullets from such a mating will be 

 strictly "cockerel-bred," lacking the distinct penciling desired in 

 exhibition pullets and having tails that are black to the roots of the 

 feathers. They should also have wing primaries that are solid black 

 except for a slight edging of white on the narrow side of the primary 

 feathers. 



The beautiful combination of clean steel-gray penciled with dis- 

 tinct bands of soft black, which is the real beauty of a Silver Pen- 

 ciled Wyandotte pullet at her best, can be most easily reproduced 

 by mating a well penciled female to a male whose dam was a high- 

 class exhibition female. It will be found that this male carries strip- 

 ing in hackle and saddle, but the stripe may have a white quill in it, 

 and the entire top plumage presents a silvery white appearance. The 

 breast and fluff of this male will carry some white and the tail coverts 

 may show some white. The throat, however, should be reasonably 

 black, for weak throats in pullets are a common fault. The under- 

 color of such a bird will be light, and if he carries some white at 

 the base of tail, it should not be deemed objectionable. His wing 

 primaries should be correctly colored. Yellow shanks and beak will 

 come naturally to such a bird. Now, if his ancestry on the female 

 side is right, you can produce some wonderful pullets when such a 

 male is mated to high-class exhibition females. The pullets will 

 be of the desired steel-gray color, cleanly and distinctly penciled. 

 They may in their early plumage appear weak in penciling on throat 

 and upper breast, and if the show is an early one, these light colored 



