122 LLS50NS IN POULTRY KELPING — SECOND SLRIE.S. 



regard to them are plainly local, and in their contribu' on to the carriage of the bird they 

 express its spirit quite as faithfully and conspicuously as do some of the superior sections. 

 I do not know that there is anything indicated in the legs and feetof a fowl that cauuot be 

 known without special reference to them. Their indications of structure and of quality of 

 flesh are discernible also in the head and comb. The testiraouy of different parts of the fowl 

 to the same facts, however, is cumulative, and ouf!ht to make the requisite impression on 

 the person seeking tor evidence of quality, ot lack of it, much more forcible than if confined 

 to a single section. Further, all do not value the same sections alike, and evidence of a fault 

 appearing in one section might make little Impression on one mind, while the evidence of the 

 same fault in another section would make a very strong impression. So, also, with respect to 

 excellence. Some require one .sign j some another, of the same quality. Whoever depends on 

 a single point is apt to find his judgment on it occasionally leading him astray, while with 

 two or three points of velw, it his udgment misses on one he is likely to be set right on 

 another. Thus I have known men who saw in a peaked looking beak and head only evidence 

 of " fineness," but when they looked at the unsymmetrical, rough, or shriveled looking shanks 

 and toes ot the same specimen, saw at once that it was weakness. 



The condition of the legs is generally considered a reliable index of the age of » fowl, but 

 it is as often misleading. To mistake the legs ot an immature fowl for those of a mature 

 fowl, it both were in good condition, wou'd be quite impossible to most experienced poultry- 

 men, but as soon as the legs and toes begin to be out of condition, either because of external 

 conditlonsor because of the condition of the fowl, judgment by them becomes all guessing, 

 while in the case of mature fowls age alone may make little dift'erence in the appearance of the 

 leg of the yearling and the bird of two, three, or four years. 



In young chickens the leg and foot often furni«h the first indication ot trouble. Especially is 

 this the case with chickens raised artificially. Improper temperatures and lack ot ventilation 

 soon show their elfects on the feet, which seem to wither away, while the chick that finds con- 

 ditions right has a smooth skinned, well rounded, sturdy looking pair ot legs under it. 



Color, Quantity, and Quality of Plumage. 



The color ot a fowl In no way influences any other quality, though color defects are some- 

 times (perhaps rightly) held to indicate a degree or period ot weakness. Thus In black fowls 

 if a feather containing some white or gray, when plucked, is replaced by a solid black feather, 

 the presumption is that the first feather was not perfect because of some lack of perfect con- 

 dition in the fowl. But it would be hard to show by comparison of black fowls that those 

 with a trifle of white in the plumage were in any way, except in this variation from Standard 

 color, inferior to either the^solid black birds or to those which, from excess of coloring pigment, 

 showed purple bars in the black. The actual dlfl'erence is too trifling — even It it does exist — 

 to have an influence marked enough to be noticeable. 



Superficially, however, and considered with reference to the demand for certain colors and 

 markings in exhibition fowls, and with reference to such points as ease of dressing and the 

 better appearance ot fowls of certain colors when dressed, color is of great importance. 

 With the fancier excellence in color compensates for many serious faults in other matters, and 

 afowl remarkable for color will sellorwin regardless ot other faults where a fowl poor in 

 color would not be considered for its other merits. It is the fowl of this character which the 

 " utility " poultry keeper should buy of the fancier — a cull for superficial faults in no way 

 affecting any substantial quality. This is a point both breeder and buyer should keep con- 

 stantly in mind. The utility poultryman wants not any cull from the fancier's yard, but the 

 bird which is a cull from the fancier's point of vision, and at the same time not a cull from 

 his own. 



The history of the popularity of varieties ot poultry indicates that even those who do not 

 breed for high excellence in color and markings are not long satisfied with fowls that, as they 

 run with ordinary selection in breeding, show too great diversity of color. This accounts In 

 part for the steadily Increasing preference for white fowls — the fact that the white fowl is 

 at any age easy to dress clean, the pin feathers not being full of pigment which, If it exudes, 

 stains the carcass, and if it remains In'tbe quill dit'flgures It, 



