THE ORPINGTONS 



ir 



Buff Orp. ; "»■»''• Coch. Dork. Ck. | D"'' ^"l^-^.^- r Gold. Ham. Ck. 

 1 Buff Cochin Hens I "»">• Coch. P 1 1. 1 ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^.^ 



There had been in existence for a long time a fowl 

 that was raised mostly in the county of Lincoln and was 

 known as Lincolnshire Buffs. Mr. E. Brown says as fol- 

 lows: 



"Birds of a similar type have been personally known 

 to us for more than twenty yearj, especially in the Spald- 

 ing, Boston and Louth districts, under the name of Lin- 

 colnshire Buff. They were, however, more of the Cochin 

 type, due to want of definite aim in breeding and careful 

 selection, but were, as a rule, white skinned and legged, 

 and the great majority had feathers down the leg. Hence, 

 what Mr. Cook states he had accomplished by specific 

 matings, was already in existence, only needing the at- 

 tention of breeders to secure uniformity and refinement 

 of type. 



"Lincolnshire breeders regard the breed as having 

 been formed thus: 



Lincolnshire Buff 



fBuff Cochin Male 



\ Dorking-Common Cross / Dorking 



I Common Fowl 



"Even if we accept the statement that some of the 

 Buff Orpingtons were produced in Kent, there is an abund- 

 ance of evidence that the great majority of many present- 

 day Buffs are directly bred from Lincolnshire Buffs, without 

 the slightest relationship to Mr. Cook's strain; or, as Mr. 

 R. de Courcy Peele, in his book, 'Orpingtons and All 

 About Them,' says: 'The foundation had been laid many 

 years previous to Mr. Cook's time in the shape of the 

 Lincolnshire Buff, a variety, if it may be so called, which 

 has for many years been the acknowledged farmer's fowl 

 in and about Spalding and the neighboring towns.' " 



Owing to the controversy which was carried on in 

 England for some time, relative to the origin and name 

 given the Buffs by Mr. Cook, and as we have never seen 

 the matter explained in print in this country, we again 

 quote from Mr. Brown's Book, "Domestic Races of 

 Fowls," in order to give the American fanciers both sides 

 of the question. We have heard how Mr. Cook originated 

 his Buffs; now let us see what others said about it. 



"Around the Buffs a fierce contest arose, not in re- 

 spect to the qualities or the characteristics of the variety, 

 but the name. It is not our purpose to go over this 

 ground, as the doing so would be futile. Apart from all 

 questions as to the claims put regarding the origin, as to 

 whether — ^which is our belief — the Buff Orpington is a re- 

 fined Lincolnshire Buff, as to whether Mr. Cook did not 

 buy Lincolnshire Buffs before he introduced Buff Orpin- 

 tons, as to whether he did not sell Lincolnshire Buffs as 

 Buff Orpingtons, and as to whether birds identical and 

 bred from the same parents have not been, and are still 

 sold under both designations, there is an important ques- 

 tion as to name. 



"When Mr. Cook brought out the breed in 1894 the 

 Orpington Club protested strongly against the use of the 

 name Orpington, and others did the same. The question 

 was ably summed up by Mr. Lewis Wright in his book en- 

 titled 'The New Book of Poultry,' as follows: 'A breeder 

 might justifiably use any name he likes really open to 

 him; but when a man has already appropriated the name 

 of his residence to one breed, of which he tellg us the com- 

 ponents were A. B. and C, there are the gravest objections 

 to his giving, years afterwards, the same name for merely 

 trade and advertising purposes, to another breed which, 

 according to his own account, has no particle of A, B, and 

 C, but was built up of X, Y, Z.' 



"With these observations we absolutely agree, and the 

 Poultry Club failed lamentably in recognizing the name 

 under these conditions. 



"The thing is done, and cannot now be altered. The 

 'canniness' which designed the coup has had its reward. 

 But we feel that a grave injustice has been done to Lin- 

 colnshire breeders. The advertising they would have 

 reaped has gone elsewhere. 



"Fortunately 'a rose by any other name would smell 

 as sweet,' and nothing could injure the economic qualities 

 of the Buff Orpington, which proved to be very great. 



"No breed of fowl has attained so universal a popu- 

 larity, in spite of the many disqualifications met with. 



"The demand for these birds grew so rapidly that it 

 was impossible to meet it. 



"Large numbers of half-breed Buff Cochins and 

 Dorkings were sold as Buff Orpingtons. 



"We have seen the progeny of high-priced birds sold 

 as pure stock, of which 75 per cent were yellow-legged 

 and feather-legged. Anything bearing the name 'Buff 

 Orpington' was saleable, or as a Lincolnshire breeder 

 wrote us, 'If I call my birds Lincolnshire Buff, I cannot 

 get more than 4s. each for them; if I call them Buff Orp- 

 ingtons, they readily sell at 10s. each.' 



"But that stage has passed. At first the resemblance 

 between the Blacks and Buffs was more imaginary than 

 real. Now the latter are longer in leg and more upright. 



"But the different types have been brought nearer to- 

 gether. Even yet there is a tendency to yellow and feath- 

 ered legs, but not nearly to the extent met with formerly." 



White Orpingtons 



Mr. Cook claimed to have originated the white variety 

 by crossing White Leghorn males with Black Hamburg 

 pullets. The pullets from this cross that came white were 

 mated to White Dorking males. 



The following diagram will perhaps give a better idea 

 of how the various crosses were used. 



,„u- « • . f White Dorking Male ,„ri.-. t u in r 

 White Orpmgton i , . „ ? „ f White Leghorn Mafe 



I Leghorn-Hamburg Cross.! , u . on. 



*- * I Black Hamburg Pullets 



In spite of the above claim, many English breeders? 

 claim that the Whites are sports from the Blacks. 



Judging from the size and type of the Whites seen in 

 our American shows, I do not see how this could be pos- 

 sible, as they seem of a different type entirely, although 

 during the past two years the type of the three varieties 

 seems to be getting more uniform. 



The Rose Comb White was produced in the same 

 manner as the Single Comb, the only difference being. 

 that a Rose Comb Dorking was used instead of a single 

 comb, according to the information received from Mr. P. 



A. Cook. 



Diamond Jubilee Orpingtons 



Mr. Cook claimed to have originated this variety and 

 we have never heard the claim disputed. They were given 

 the name "Diamond Jubilee Orpingtons" as they were 

 brought out in 1897 during Queen Victoria's Diamond 

 Jubilee. One of the best pens was presented to the late 

 Queen. She was an ardent poultry fancier and on her 

 estate was to be found a fine, up-to-date poultry plant. 



Mr. P. A. Cook says: "The Jubilee Orpingtons were 

 produced by mating the same breeds together as were 

 used in the Buff Orpingtons, only a Speckled Dorking was 

 used instead of a colored one, this being used for the last 

 cross.'' 



