Plymouth Rocks. 435 



them a cock slightly darker, carefully avoiding birds with either red or black feathers, and as 

 far as possible even hackles of a golden-colour ; by which means, with a little patience, a strain 

 may soon be formed that breeds a pure blue-grey. The most difficult point is to get enough 

 depth of colour in the cock without obtaining sickles or tail-coverts nearly or quite ^/«c/^/ hence 

 it is necessary at first to raise as many chickens as possible from the first stock, in order to have 

 plenty of material for selection. Besides the colour, the neat rose-comb, red ear-lobes, and 

 brilliant yellow legs, with fine shape and size, are all that need to be attended to in breeding 

 Dominiques. This variety was one of the parents of that next described. 



The following is the American "Standard" for Dominiques, copied from the authorised edition. 

 It is somewhat too vague and general in description to be of much service. 



DOMINIQUES. 



General Shape and Colour. — Comb — Rose, large, bright red, similar to Hamburglis. Wattles — Red, well rounded, 

 medium length. Bait — Yellow, legs — Yellow. Deaf-c-a7-—KeA. Flumage — A light blue ground, shaded with a dark slaty 

 blue all over the body, forming bands of various widths. 



POINTS IN DOMINIQUES. 



Size 23 



Comb ........... 20 



Plumage ........... 25 



Symmetry 20 



Condition ........... 10 



Disqualifications in Dominiques. — Legs other than yellow, or feathered; combs other than rose ; .splashes of white in 

 the breast or back ; fowls not matching in pen ; red or brassy colour in hackle or saddle. 



PLYMOUTH ROCKS. — The variety now known by this name has never yet been correctly 

 described in any work on poultry; all hitherto published, both in England and America, confounding 

 it with a creation of Dr. Bennett's some twenty years ago, and described by him in his well-known 

 American work on fowls. This description is highly curious, and well illustrates our opening 

 remarks on some American so-called "breeds." "I have given this name," he says, "to a very 

 extra breed of fowls, which I produced by crossing a Cochin China cockerel with a hen that was 

 herself a cross between the Fawn-coloured Dorking, the Great Malay, and the Wild India. Her 

 weight is six pounds seven ounces. The Plymouth Rock fowl, then, is in reality one-lialf 

 Cochin China, one-fourth Fawn-coloured Dorking, one-eighth Great Malay, and one-eighth Wild 

 India. Their plumage is rich and variegated, the cocks usually red and speckled, and the pullets 

 darkish brown. They are very fine fleshed, and early fit for the table. Their legs are very large, 

 and usually blue or green, but occasionally yellow or white, generally having five toes upon each 

 foot ; some have the legs feathered, but this is not usual." 



It is only necessary to read the above description to see that this very exlra breed of fowls, 

 which bred legs yellow, white, blue, or green, feathered or clean, five-toed or four-toed, could not 

 possibly last long. It was too "extra" for this world, and even the inventor could not "run the 

 machine" long, so complicated was it in its various parts. Tltis Plymouth Rock, then, naturally and 

 inevitably disappeared from simple disintegration of its heterogeneous materials, and though Dr. 

 Bennett's old description has been copied by all poultry authors who have noticed the fowl at all 

 up to the present date, this has arisen simply from ignorance, first of the fowl itself, and, secondly,- 



