THE EARTH'S BOUNTY 



Now for the most exacting and difficult 

 item plumage. The standard of perfection 

 described it up to 1903 as bluish-gray, with 

 narrow parallel lines of dark blue, just stop- 

 ping short of positive black. In the later 

 issues it has been changed to grayish-white, 

 each feather crossed by regular, narrow, par- 

 allel, sharply-defined dark bars, that stop 

 short of positive black, free from shafting of 

 brownish tinge or metallic sheen. The light 

 and dark bars to be of nearly equal width, and 

 to extend throughout the length of the feather 

 in all sections of the fowl. (On females, 

 feathers having narrow, dark tips are pre- 

 ferred.) The combination of overlapping 

 feathers to give the plumage a bluish appear- 

 ance. F. L. SeweE, a poultry artist of ac- 

 knowledged authority, in a very extensive dis- 

 cussion of the color of the Barred Plymouth 

 Rocks says: 



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