OHAPTEIR IV 



Buff Orpingtons 



Severe Criticisms and Condemnation of the Pfew Variety vrhen First Exhibited in England — Rapid Growrth 



in Popularity of Bnff Orpingtons ^vhen Their Good Qualities Became Better Knovm — Mating for 



Size, Type and Color — Contributions by Pfoted American Breeders of Bnff Orpingtons 



J> H*. DrevenBiedt 



. UFF Orpingtons followed closely on the heels 

 of their black namesake, but even with 

 no claim as blood relations, they shared 

 the growing popularity of the Orpington 

 fowl in England with the Blacks from the 

 start, while in this country they became the 

 most popular variety from the time they 

 were first exhibited at the Madison Square Garden in 

 1899 and continued in the lead up till the present time, 

 although the White variety has come along with a rush in 

 the past few years, and bids fair to overtake its Buff rival, 

 as it' already has its Black in number of entries at our 

 leading poultry exhibitions. But Buff color is so im- 

 mensely popular with American fanciers that any 

 variety of a breed possessing it, is bound to remain 

 among the leading races of domestic poultry, provided 

 it meets the necessary other requirements which make 

 up the much sought after, but rarely found general pur- 

 pose fowl. 



The new Buflf Orpingtons were launched upon a 

 stormy sea and were tossed about roughly in their youth- 

 ful days. The originator, William Cook, was severely 

 criticised and even roundly abused in his native land, for 

 offering an imperfect cross-bred fowl to the public, as well 

 as for his temerity in calling these Buff crosses "Orping- 

 tons" when no trace of the 

 original Black Orpington 

 blood flowed in the new 

 comers' veins. 



The American Fancier 

 in the fall of 1901 published 

 several caustic comments by 

 the late Harrison Weir, one 

 of England's most noted and 

 respected poultry authorities, 

 which handled Mr. Cook's 

 Orpington productions with- 

 out gloves. Capt. C. W. Ged- 

 ney, Bromley, Kent, Eng- 

 land, in the October 27th is- 

 sue of the American Fancier 

 contributed another severe 

 criticism of Buff Orpingtons, 

 which in part read as follows: 

 "I read with much de- 

 light the well merited casti- 

 gation administered by Mr. 

 Harrison Weir to William 

 Cook, the Orpington poultry 

 dealer. But it will make no 

 impression upon this Bar- 

 num of the English poul- 

 try world. I hope, how- 

 ever, that it will counter- 

 act some of the log rolling of 



W. Cook, which has been so long rampant in the Amer- 

 ican poultry journals. The English people — at least some 

 of them — like being gulled, and W. Cook apparently found 

 this out in 1883. He has gulled them successfully ever 

 since and waxed fat upon the proceeds. 



But to get to one of his latest mongrels — the Buff Orp- 

 ington. I induced a friend of mine at a distance to ©btain 

 for me a sitting of these birds' eggs from W. Cook direct. 

 There were eight chickens hatched from the 13 eggs, but 

 two of them were white! Seven out of the eight had perfect 

 Dorking feet, with five toes, and six of the brood were 

 feather legged! Such a lovely lot of mongrels! And this 

 does not exhaust the list of 'Orpington' varieties which I 

 got for my money. Two of the Buff chickens are now in 

 adult plumage and they are distinctly marked upon their 

 backs with dark lacings, suggestive of Plymouth Rocks! 

 The feathering on the legs is very slight and it has a ten- 

 dency to disappear as the bird gets older. At any rate, I 

 was told so by one of W. Cook's representatives. He did 

 not, however, explain, as Mr. Harrison Weir does, that the 

 feathers are to be pulled out and the holes filled up with 

 wax! As I said before, the British public like being gulled, 

 and they took William Cook's mongrel Black Orpington 

 in preference to the pure Langshan, because he boomed it 

 and lied about it wholesale." 



ENGLISH BUFF ORPINGTONS, 1906. 

 Reproduced from Races of Domestic Poultry, by Edward 



Brown, England. 



