234 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



lack of care. Bicknell recommended that a bird showing any red 

 feathers never be bred. 



Mottled Javas. The Mottled Java should have a plumage that is 

 mottled with black and white throughout, the black predominating. 

 The tendency in recent years has been to breed a black bird mottled 

 on each feather with a tip of white. This is a darker and much more 

 beautiful bird than where the black and white is broken and splashed. 

 The 1st and 2d hens at the New York State Fair, 1919, were of the 

 darker ground color, each feather ending with white. More such 

 birds can be bred through the infusion of Black Java blood into the 

 mottled variety. The Mottled Java was originated in 1872 by a cross 

 of a Black Java cock with a large white hen. The hen was from a 

 flock prized for its laying qualities, and old breeders have commented 

 on the Mottled Java as possessing utility qualities that were superior 

 to those of the Black Java. For years the variety was bred princi- 

 pally for utility. More recently specimens have become scarce, and 

 new Mottled Javas have been produced from White Rock crosses. 

 The majority of these recent productions, however, have had yellow 

 shanks, whereas the true Mottled Java has shanks that are leaden 

 blue in color, broken with yellow. 



The Houdan originally had a broken black and white plumage, 

 also the Ancona. It is well known what beautiful white tipping is 

 today bred on these breeds, and a breeder who takes up the Mottled 

 Java can make out of it one of the most beautiful fowls in the 

 American class. It affords the basis on which to work. It should 

 not be bred as dark as the modern Houdan or Ancona, in which one 

 feather in five is tipped with white. The Mottled Java may be bred 

 with each feather tipped with white. 



White Javas. White Javas are today extinct. They were pro- 

 duced in the yards of Henry C. Turck, Elmwood Place, Ohio, and 

 shown by him at the American Fat Stock Show, Chicago, November, 

 1888. The Whites were sports of the Blacks. They had yellow shanks. 

 They were admitted to the Standard along with the White Plymouth 

 Rocks. However, when admitted, the Standard was made to read that 

 Javas were to have willow shanks, with the result that the existing 

 stock turned into White Rocks and the variety died out. 



Black Giants 



Black Giants were originated in Burlington county, New Jersey. 

 It is in New Jersey that the famous Philadelphia chickens are grown. 

 They are really Burlington county capons. It was there that John 

 and Thomas Black, along in the eighties, bred a giant mongrel black 

 chicken which today bears the name of Black Giants. These birds 

 carry Partridge Cochin and Dark Brahma blood, two breeds that 

 always have entered largely into the production of Philadelphia 

 chickens; for a dark colored fowl for breeding purposes always has 

 been considered the stronger by Burlington county farmers. 



