22 



THE ORPINGTONS 



EARLY IDEAL ORPINGTON MALE 



to the breed and we find the specimens approaching near- 

 est our Standard ideals for Orpington type,- fowls of 

 beauty and usefulness." 



Type Variation in English Orpingtons 

 In his excellent book "The Orpington and Its Varie- 

 ties" London, England, 1908, the author, E. Campbell, fur- 



nishes the following interesting comparison of the diflfer- 

 ences in Single Comb Black and Single Comb Buff Orping- 

 ton types: "Although it is generally accepted in theory 

 that there is nothing but color to distinguish the two 

 varieties, there are in reality very great and material dif- 

 ferences. In type for instance, a difficulty in Black is to 

 keep the tail within its symmetrical limits, for if ill bred it 

 generally develops quite a large and high pitched tail. In 

 the Buff, on the other hand, a difficulty is to get sufficient 

 tail with a broad enough feather. 



"Type in Blacks insists on a short leg and a square, 

 massive, well let-down body. Type in Buffs at the moment 

 is almost a minor matter, and you can go to any leading 

 show and find half-a-dozen different types carded — color in 

 feather mostly determining the awards. 



"Size, too, is a sine qua non in Blacks. It only comes 

 into the judging of Buffs when birds are otherwise level 

 as to color and type. 



"For these reasons Buffs, as a whole, do not exhibit 

 that grand massiveness and bulk which one can find in 

 the best Blacks. But now that the value of type has been 

 given a proper place in the Buff Orpington Standard, we 

 may hope for an improvement, for size follows type in the 

 breed as certainly as day follows night. 



"It is urged that the buff color is so difficult to secure 

 that its value from a breeder's point of view far transcends 

 type or size, and no one who has bred Buffs will deny the 

 great cogency of this argument. But many thoughtful 

 lovers of the breed have, like myself, deplored the ex- 

 treme lengths to which some breeders have gone, and 

 which some judges have sanctioned, in search of purity of 

 plumage alone. I have seen a Buff Dorking cockerel, so 

 far as type and characteristics go, even at the Dairy 

 Show, and, truth to tell, he had to win or the judge, him- 

 self a sound Buff breeder, would have been attacked from 

 every quarter. 



"The very pronounced advance made in color, within 

 the last couple of years, has so altered the situation that 

 I think the Buff breeder who loses sight of type and size 

 may find himself awkwardly situated. 



"As black breeders know it is very difficult indeed to 

 breed in type and size. As a rule it is not attempted, be- 



A and B. Composite oulline drawings of Orpini<ton •n-'o and female lUustratlna- tho riii¥o,.o„„ i, . 

 cepted American Standard ideal and the early U-shape type of body. The dbtteriines fhow the tvne thnf ^pT Z*"?, ^'=" 

 Bome five years ago. The heavy lines show the type of bird ihat finds favor with the best breldP??%nriS,^t^ ='" I^T?'" 

 present day.— A. O. iSchillrag. "'• oreeaers and judges of the 



