70 POULTRY BREEDING AND MANAGEMENT 



A Plymouth Rock may be "barred to the skin" and trans- 

 mit that characteristic to the offspring. It is pure in that 

 respect, but she may not be able to transmit to her offspring 

 the yellow leg color ; if so, she is not pure in that respect. 

 The Blue Andalusian is considered a pure breed, and yet 

 from the standpoint of purity it is mongrel so far as 

 color is concerned, for when both Andalusian parents are 

 blue, the offspring are blue, black, or splashed white. Ex- 

 perimenters have found that, on the average, half the off- 

 spring will be blue, one-fourth black, and one fourth splash- 

 ed white. Now when the blacks are mated together the off- 

 spring are all black; and white with white gives all white. 

 The blacks and whites breed pure, but the blues are not pure, 

 in other words mongrels, so far as color is concerned. Again, 

 if blacks and whites are bred together the offspring are all 

 blue. No amount of selection, line breeding, or inbreeding, 

 will overcome this peculiarity, or trait of the Andalusian; 

 the Blue Andalusian will remain forever a mongrel race 

 so far as color is concerned. 



What then is a Pure-bred Fowl? It may be denned as 

 one that possesses the characteristics of the breed to which it 

 belongs and reproduces those characteristics in its offspring 

 with reasonable certainty. Purity of breeding refers to 

 the blood lines or pedigree of the fowl and to its ability to 

 transmit the breed characteristics to the progeny. The 

 makers of poultry standards have not been able to incor- 

 porate in their standards anything signifying egg-laying 

 points, because it has never been demonstrated that there 

 is any particular shape or type of fowl that indicates its 

 laying qualities, nor has it been possible or practicable up to 

 date to include in the standard a requirement as to perfor- 

 mance, or a record of eggs laid. On the other hand, the 

 only requirement to admit a horse to the Trotting Register 

 is speed. He must have speed and an ancestry of speed. 



