528 



POULTRY CULTURE 



FIG. 556. Single-Combed Rhode Island 

 Red cock. (Photograph from owner, 

 Frank D. Read, Bridgewater, Massa- 

 chusetts) 



latent, and the black is never abso- 

 lutely free from white. 1 



Black stock that has not been very 

 carefully bred for color is usually a 

 brown black. Breeding from the 

 blackest of such brown-black birds 

 develops the Standard jet black with 

 the green surface, sheen, and brown 

 casts eliminated. After this stage of 

 development has been reached it 

 becomes necessary to check the in- 

 tensification of black by breeding 

 with a Standard bird of one sex a 

 mate of the other in which the black 

 is dull yet free from pronounced 

 rustiness. If two jet-black birds are 

 mated, further intensification of the 

 black seems to bring it to disinte- 

 gration, and brings out purple bar- 

 ring, which is a most objectionable 

 character. The occurrence of white 



FIG. 557. Single-Combed Rhode 

 Island Red pullet 



FIG. 558. Single-Combed Rhode 

 Island Red hen 2 



1 Some of the most careful breeders and expert exhibitors of black fowls say 

 that white can always be found in a black fowl if the examination is thorough. A 

 breeder of Black Leghorns and judge of many black varieties, who had had over 

 twenty years' experience with them, once told me that no matter how carefully a 

 black fowl was examined for white, and faulty feathers removed, he could always 

 go back and find another. 2 photograph from owner, Frank D. Read. 



