merit. Then it was that the fanciers became interested and made con- 

 certed efforts to more widely introduce them to the attention of the 

 poultry world. 



An Ancona club was formed, descriptive circulars were distributed, 

 the fowls were pictured and written up in the poultry magazines, and 

 exhibition was encouraged. This may be said to be the beginning of The 

 Ancona Era. 



The early writers of Ancona history in many instances had more 

 fluency than veracity, and as a consequence many vagaries got into print 

 concerning the breed. These statements were taken for granted to be 

 true and were copied generally. One in particular that went the rounds 

 was that "Anconas came from the Islands of Ancona, near Italy." In 

 the First Ancona History issued in book form (1911) I set right these 

 mis-statements, and have been pleased to see that the circulai's, catalogs, 

 magazine articles, etc. since that time have been more rational. Other 

 statements of equal authenticity made by the early writers was about 

 the wonderful and fearful crosses made to produce Anconas, their Span- 

 ish origin, etc., etc. 



The original name of the Ancona fowl was MARCHEGIANA, de- 

 rived from The Marches province, their native Italian home. But this 

 word was too burdensome for the English speaking people and therefore 

 the word ANCONA was substituted, which is really as appropriate, as 

 the Ancona fowl is the native fowl of the whole Ancona province, of 

 which The Marches is but one of the geographical divisions. 



