APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 



501 



FIG. 497. White Wyandotte cock. (Pho- 

 tograph from owner, Rockandotte Farm) 



little higher on the legs, with a shorter tail 

 the whole type is different. Heavy-weight 

 type ; Houdans and Faverolles show it 

 very strongly. Even in the Asiatics the 

 nearer we can get to the Dorking model 

 body without losing the carriage and 

 station which have been developed in 

 the Asiatic class, the better table fowl 

 we get. 



1 With ideal table shape it might be 

 supposed that the Dorking would be more 

 popular in America. I have long thought 

 that it would have been but for a reputa- 

 tion for delicacy of constitution (which it 

 did not deserve), and for its large comb 

 and superfluous toes. Such superfluous 

 developments of appendages have always 

 been objectionable to the mass of Ameri- 

 can poultrymen. Add to these objections 

 the fact that the skin of the typical Dork- 

 ing is not yellow, and the superficial faults 

 more than overbalance, in the popular 

 mind, the substantial merits. 



With all the length of body that 

 the bird can^ stand, or the Standard 

 will permit, the breeder should select 

 for breadth and depth of body, and 

 fullness of breast. The Dorking 

 shape is as nearly an ideal table 

 shape as any breed shape, the 

 combination of length, depth, and 

 breadth of frame, and fullness of 

 muscular development being, in the 

 finest types of the breed, as near 

 perfection as can be imagined. 1 

 This shape may be closely approxi- 

 mated in a number of other breeds 

 without altogether losing the types 

 of those breeds. This is most ap-^ 

 parent when the bodies of females 

 are compared. A Plymouth Rock 

 hen of good length, breadth, and 

 depth of body, and exceptionally 

 good breast development for the 

 breed, will be a very good Dork- 

 ing shape ; but because it stands a 

 and smaller comb, the impression of 

 Leghorns tend toward the Dorking 



FIG. 498. White Wyandotte hen 

 (Photograph from owner, Rock- 

 andotte Farm) 



