436 The Illustrated Book of Poultry. 



of the accounts given by its breeders and producers. So completely had the old Plymouth Rock 

 disappeared, that in the first poultry journal ever published in America, The New York Poultry 

 Bulletin, no notice whatever is taken of any fowl under that name during the first two years o*" its 

 issue. The description in the .American "Standard of Excellence," published in 1871, states 

 the colour as " dark or light steel-grey " for the cocks, and " dark steel, mottled black and white, 

 black and white bars well defined across each feather," for the hens. This is evidently intended to 

 describe Dominique marking, and indeed the editor adds a remark in brackets that he considers it 

 wrong, and that the plumage should be described "same as Dominiques ;" but in any case it widely 

 differs from Dr. Bennett's, and accordingly, by degrees, a totally different account of the origin of the 

 breed begins to appear. The first authentic account we were able to obtain came to us in answer to 

 a special inquiry, in a letter from Mr. W. Simpson, Jun., of West Farms, N.Y., dated August 12, 1871. 

 In this letter he says of them, " If bred with care they will make a fine variety. They are an 

 improved Doviiniquc, being just like them except in comb and size ; they have a single comb and 

 are larger, as they have a touch of Asiatic in them." He adds, " They do not breed very straight 

 yet." In another letter, dated April 26, 1873, enclosing the revised and corrected "Standard of 

 Excellence " for the variety, which will be found at the end, and which, after careful study of the 

 Tjird, we have also followed in our own Schedule for judging the fowl (no alteration being made 

 further than to re-arrange the various points in the order adopted after full consideration 

 throughout this work), the same gentlemen adds the following particulars, first premising that 

 the "already printed Standard is yery incorrect, particularly in colour of plumage and tail." He 

 then proceeds as follows : — 



" After a little careful breeding I think the Plymouth Rock will be a grand fowl, and second 

 to none for all purposes. As yet they do not breed quite true always, and their eggs are all colours 

 and sizes. They are hajidsopie, good sitters, and good for table, and \ intend m}'self to stick to 

 them and try and get them right. They were produced from single^cotnbcd Dominiques crossed 

 ■with Asiatics. Dominique fowls are the same in colour, and are a useful variety ; but twenty 

 years ago, when the Shanghaes made their appearance, these took their place in the estimation of 

 the public, and the Dominiques were much neglected by fanciers, so that they do not breed any 

 straighter now than the Plymouth Rocks." 



In the Pet Stock, Pigeon, and Poultry Bulletiti for March, 1873, is at) article on the origin of 

 the fowl, by the Rev. H. S. Ramsdell, from which we make the following extracts : — 



" Our modern Plymouth Rock fowl is in no way whatever connected with the Plymouth 

 Rock produced by Dr. Bennett some twenty-five years since, from a cross with the Asiatic fowls. 

 None of this blood enters into the composition of the present stock. They are ^ different bird 

 altogether, and were produced on the farm of the late Joseph Spaulding, of Putnam, Conn., 

 which is situated about one niile from my own. I was intimately acquainted with Mr. S. while 

 he lived, and I was thus given an opportunity ai knozving the facts of which I speak. 



" Some thirty years since, John Giles, Esq. (well known to the poultry world) introduced a fowl 

 into this vicinity called the Black Java ; its plumage was black and glossy, its size large (Mr. G. said 

 the pullets had sometimes reached eleven pounds), they were an unusually hardy bird, with a dark, 

 slate-coloured, smooth leg, and the bottom of the foot yellow. They proved good layers, and of 

 extra quality for the table ; not coarse, like most of the large-sized birds, but fine and juicy. I sold 

 a few of these birds to a Mr. Thayer, of Pomfret, of whom Mr. George Clark, of Woodstock, 

 Conn., purchased some — he supposed the same. Mr. Clark, passing Mr. Spaulding's yard 

 one day, noticed his ^e flock of Dominiques, and proposed bringing a few of his Javas 

 over to cross with them, to increase the size. Mr. S. accepted the offer; and when the 



