34 FIRST LESSONS IN POULTRY KEEPING. 



bred. Like the penciled varieties described above, they have been too difficult for the average 

 breeder, but as knowledge of breeding increases there is more and more disposition to take up 

 the breeds that have been let alone because they were difficult, and these breeds become more 

 and more popular. 



Mating Brown Leghorns. 



The Brown Leghorn male and the Partridge Cochin male are very like in color, but the 

 females are quite different. The Partridge Cochin female is required to be uniform in color 

 throughout. The Brown Leghorn female has a yellow neck with black stripe, a light brown 

 back so very finely penciled as to produce an effect quite different from the heavy distinct pen- 

 ciling of the Cochin and Wyandotte. The breast is salmon colored, the body a light brown, the 

 tail black with coverts penciled as is the plumage of the back, the wings a combination of slaty 

 brown and light brown disposed as are the black and white in the wing of the Light Brahma. 



To produce males and females so different, the double mating system is generally used, the 

 exhibition males being bred from exhibition males mated with females of the same line of breed- 

 ing. Such females are, as a rule, much too dark for exhibition, and not nearly as handsome as 

 the exhibition females. The exhibition females are produced from exhibition females mated to 

 males that are not merely of the same line of breeding, but known to be the sous of exhibition 

 females of the highest merit. 



The exhibition male has, or should have, (he does not always) his hackle and saddle well 

 striped with black, but no striping at all is wanted in the saddle of the pullet breeding male, 

 and provided a stripe is present in his hackle, the breeder is not disposed to be overparticular 

 about the kind of stripe. These pullet breeding males are much lighter in color, a light orange 

 where the others are red. They are handsome birds, but will not often compare for depth and 

 brilliance of color with the males of the exhibition type. 



The Literature of Mating Fowls. 



I have given quite briefly, statements about color matings of fowls most commonly bred. 

 What has been given, while most elementary in scope, will help a good many breeders, will 

 keep them from getting too far out of the way in their breeding operations. A full discussion 

 of the mating of any single variety will easily take a long article. As a matter of fact there are 

 few, if any, special articles that are exhaustive, complete, and leaving nothing unsaid. So to 

 get at all there is known about the breed or variety in which he is interested, one has to sys- 

 tematically collect articles, booklets, and books in which it is treated. These vary greatly in 

 their character. Some give minute descriptions of fowls point by point, some are largely his- 

 torical, some are devoted almost entirely to mating, some combine all these features. Some- 

 times one writer in an article that is on the whole very unsatisfactory brings out valuable points 

 not noticed by the writer of a better and much more complete article. 



Thus we must gather up our information little by little, remembering all the time that as we 

 grow in our knowledge of a breed we can again and again go back to the articles we have read , 

 and in the light of our added knowledge discover in them information we had not found at any 

 previous reading. Because this is so it is good for every breeder to collect as much as he can 

 of the literature pertaining to his breed, and frequently take a spare hour or two to review and 

 think it over. 



With regard to the purchase of books, which in cases where the literature of a breed or 

 variety is unusually large, might mean an outlay of several dollars, if one is going to breed on a 

 considerable scale with the idea of selling stock, it is worth his while to get everything he can 

 on his subject, even though some of the books contain comparatively little that seems of value 

 to him, and therefore not worth their price considered as books. That, however, is not the 

 way to look at it. If I buy a book for a dollar that is compared with some other book treating 

 on the subject worth not more than ten cents, still if it gives me one item of useful information 

 I had not before, it is worth the money. 



