APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING 515 



FIG. 525. Silver-Penciled Wyandotte 

 cockerel, a nice type 1 



desired shade in some sections, 

 runs a little off in others, but it is 

 Irkely to give more satisfactory re- 

 sults in breeding. The tendency to 

 a uniform distribution of colors is 

 more valuable in a breeding bird 

 than the correct shade of color pre- 

 vailing in most sections but lost in 

 one or two. Systematic breeding 

 from the birds nearest the desired 

 shade of color, offsetting weakness 

 in color in one sex by strength in 

 the other, and applying the com- 

 pensation principle section by sec- 

 tion, when necessary, will keep a 

 stock of buff or red birds very close 

 to the Standard color. 



As stated in the description of 

 the breeds, the Buff Wyandottes, 

 Plymouth Rocks, and Rhode Island Reds were at one time of nearly the same 

 color. The first Buff Leghorns were mostly weak in color, with a great deal of 

 white and some black. At the time when the buff craze came on in the early 

 nineties, the popular shade for Buff Co- 

 chins in the East was a very light buff, 

 in the West a rather dark buff. This 

 difference continues, but in less degree. 

 The very light birds favored in Eastern 

 shows when the Buff Leghorn boom was 

 at its height were so reduced in buff pig- 

 ment that the color began to break up 

 and show traces of white throughout the 

 plumage. When this stage was reached 

 it was necessary to "feed" the stock 

 some dark color by using dark birds in 

 some matings. The feeding process often 

 caused such lack of uniformity that the 

 breeder's stock was not found in the show- 

 rooms again for one or two seasons. 



In the darker shades of buff, fluctua- 

 tions still continue, but as long as the 

 color is strong enough to keep out the 



white, a variation of a few shades is immaterial. In red fowls the tendency 

 has been constantly to a darker shade, many breeders going beyond red in 

 Rhode Island Reds and getting a large proportion of brown specimens. With 



1 Photograph from owner, James S. Wason, Grand Rapids, Michigan. 



FIG. 526. Silver-Penciled Wyandotte 

 pullet. Good bird with poor head 1 



