FIR 1ST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 33 



The females are like the males in color only in the hackle. The prevailing color of the female 

 is a light gray with distinct dark lines of penciling following the outlines of the feather, the 

 several lines of penciling on each feather making a completely penciled surface. The main tall 

 feathers are black, and the stiff feathers of the wing are black and a penciled gray instead of 

 black and white, as in the wing of the male. 



The difficulties in breeding this combination are to get clean colors and distinct penciling in 

 all sections in the females, and to get good black breasts in the males, and get these from the 

 same matings. One of the best of our breeders who breeds both these varieties gets his best 

 results from well penciled females mated with males as near Standard color as possible, and 

 known to be from well penciled hens. Such a male may have some "frosting" of white in the 

 black of the breast and body, which is a fault in the exhibition pen, but not so much so in the 

 breeding pen. The males with solid black breasts are apt to produce females that are too dark 

 and not well laced. 



The fault in quality of color most necessary to guard against is a brownish tinge in the females, 

 and red or brown in the cape or back of the male. 



Hating Golden Penciled Varieties. 



In these two varieties with "Partridge" markings constitute one type of the black-red color 

 combination ; these are the Partridge Cochin and the Partridge Wyaudotte, in which the mark- 

 ings are similar to those of the Dark Brahma and Silver Penciled Wyandotte. 



The males of both varieties are red where the males of the silver penciled varieties are white. 

 The females of the "Partridge" varieties have red or redish brown plumage with darker brown 

 penciling^. 



The rules for mating are the same. Some breeders use double matings, making two distinct 

 lines as in double matings of Barred Plymouth Rocks. Whether the practice will become general, 

 remains to be seen. 



flating Silver Laced Varieties. 



There are three of these: the Silver Laced Wyandotte, the Silver Polish, and the Silver 

 Sebright Bantam. Though not alike in all sections they have a general resemblance. The con- 

 spicuous difference between them and the type we have called the black-white type, is that in 

 the?e varieties the plumage of the breast and body has the same markings in both males and 

 females. The necks, backs, and tails of the males of the Wyandotte and Polish are not much 

 different from those of the silver penciled varieties, but in the Bantam the markings are like the 

 hen throughout. 



We will consider only the Wyandotte in this lesson. Originally the Silver Laced Wyandotte 

 had plumage with such a very wide lacing of black that the white centers, were so small that it 

 seemed more appropriate to consider the white as a mark on the black rather than the black a 

 lacing around the white. Of late years, however, there has been a change to a more " open" 

 center, making a different looking and very much handsomer fowl. What puzzles the breeder 

 is to get these lacings uniform all over the female and in the laced sections of the male. To 

 accomplish this the double mating system seems to be preferred by our most successful breed- 

 ers, two distinct lines being bred as with the Barred Rock, though it can hardly be said that the 

 lines are as well established as in the Rocks. The type of Silver Wyandotte color has changed 

 so much that we must regard the ideas of breeders as in a transition stage, and that being the 

 case I would rather advise a reader handling that variety to either find out what lines his stock 

 has been bred on, and follow same lines, or supply himself with all the literature on mating the 

 variety he can get, and after deciding what line he wants to follow in mating, begin to build the 

 stock on that line, drawing for new blood as needed on some one breeder following the same 

 line. 



Mating Golden Laced Varieties. 



Here we have the three varieties discussed above, each duplicated in its own breed with a 

 variety having a golden or bay ground color of plumage instead of white, as in the Silvers. 

 With the change of color, the principles and rules of mating are the same. 



In popularity too, the Golden Wyandottes, Polish, and Sebright Bantams have relatively 

 much the same positions as the Silvers. None of the laced varieties are as yet very extensively 



