ABBREVIATIONS FOLLOW U5AGL, NOT SY5TLM. 125 



LESSON XIV. 



Poultry Nomenclature and Abbreviations. 



BEGINNERS in poultry keeping, interested us many are in everything pertaining to- 

 poultry culture, and regarding every breed they hear of as a possible favorite, are often 

 puzzled by the use in poultry literature of abbreviations of names of varieties. The 

 habit of abbreviation is so universal that poultrymen need make no apologies for it. 

 At the same time, there are so many varieties of poultry, and so many varieties and sub-varie- 

 ties have names that to one who has an idea of the breed constitute a very good description of 

 them, that it is worth while for a novice to inform himself in regard to the abbreviations used. 

 As nearly everywhere, abbreviations of poultry names are not made to follow one consistent 

 system. The method of giving names, while to a considerable degree systematic, is not wholly 

 so. What, considering other varieties and names should be the name of a variety, is not 

 always the name given it. An abbreviation of a part of the name of a variety commonly used 

 for it, and equally applicable to the name of a second variety, may never be used in the name 

 of the second. Hence in making abbreviations one must consider what is common usage much 

 more than what would be logically correct. This is a point the reader who occasionally writes 

 either to give or to ask information about fowls, should keep in mind. An abbreviation may 

 be admissible, but if people are not in the habit of using it many will not take the trouble to be 

 sure they know just what is meant, and sometimes those who do try to make sure of what is 

 said have difficulty in doing so. Indeed the use of abbreviations by those not familiar with 

 most of the abbreviations of names in common use often use an abbreviation which does not 

 clearly distinguish the fowls to which they apply it because equally applicable to another 

 variety. The most troublesome cases of this kind are where an abbreviation in common use 

 for years is made ambiguous by the advent of a new variety having a name with the same 

 initial. The boom in buff varieties caused more trouble in that way th:m any other recent 

 occurrence. 



In Plymouth Rocks we have three varieties Burred, White, and Buff. The original Piy- 

 mouth Rock was the Barred variety, and for a long time Plymouth Hock meant nothing but 

 Barred Plymouth Rock. Even now the club devoted to Barred Plymouth Rocks is " The 

 American Plymouth Rock Club." With the introduction of the White variety it became 

 necessary in speaking of Plymouth Rocks to differentiate. Even before this it had been com- 

 mon to speak of the Barred Plymouth Rocks simply as Rocks. Now in addition to the abbrevi- 

 ations B. P. Rock and W. P. Rock, we had B. Rock and W. Rock for Barred Rock and White 

 Rock. Occasionally someone would use the term Barred Plymouth or White Plymouth, but 

 such usage was rare. With the coming of the Buff Plymouth Rock an element of doubt was 

 introduced into the use of the initial B. as an abbreviation for names of varieties of Plymouth 

 Rocks. B. might stand for either Barred or Buff. Though more than ten years have pass-eel 

 since then the plain B. is still often used, especially in connection with the Barred variety. 

 Some poultrymen and writers make a point of doing this on the ground that the Barred had 

 preempted the use of that abbreviation. Enough, however, will not look at it that way to 

 make it generally uncertain what is meant by a B. Rock, or B. P. Rock. I have sometimes 



