STANDARD CLASSIFICATION 69 
Terms Explained.—It should be noted in the above outline 
and description given later that the three terms, class, breed, and 
variety, are used with distinctive meanings. 
Class is used to include the larger groups of birds. The classes 
relate to their place of origin or their natural habitat, as, for in- 
stance, American class, English class, French class. 
Breed is used almost entirely to designate body shape and 
form. For instance, in the American class are the Plymouth Rock, 
Wyandotte, and Rhode Island Red, each one a distinct breed and 
each one having distinctive body shape’ or type. The Plymouth 
Fic. 40.—Buff Orpington pair, a popular variety of this English breed. (Photo by Suns- 
wick Poultry Farm.) 
Rocks’ bodies are represented by oval curves, the Wyandottes’ 
by circular curves, and the Rhode Island Reds’ by rectangles. 
This difference can easily be distinguished from the accompanying 
sketches (Fig. 39). 
“‘ Breed ” is also used to designate both shape and variety color, 
yet in such cases the proper distinction has been partially over- 
looked. This error is especially pronounced in the Orpington 
breed; there the tendency has been to create new varieties at a 
sacrifice of shape, it being quite common to find Buff Orping- 
tons with a buff color, but representing anything but the 
Orpington shape (Fig. 40). Another example is among White 
