11 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



In addition to the typical shape of the back, which is largely de- 

 pendent upon plumage, the back of the bird should be felt in the 

 hands, its breadth across the hips should be felt, and if the back is 

 humped up, or there is a ridge on the back, or the liird is hipped, 

 the defects are major, not minor ones. 



Tail: The tail gives balance to the bird. The Wyandotte has 

 the highest tail, for if the tail were carried low it would add apparent 

 length to the body of the bird. The tail is carried low in the Rhode 

 Island Red to carrj- out the general impression of length. In the 

 Rock the general carriage of the tail is between, with the best 

 breeders aiming at a trifle lower carriage rather than higher carriage, 

 for the general setup of the Rock is medium with a tendency to length. 



The carriage of the tail depends on the main tail feathers. The 

 sickles, lesser sickles, coverts and hangars lay over the male's main 

 tail feathers. These furnishings should be particularly abundant in 

 the Wyandotte male and practically cover the main tail feathers 

 from view. Pinched or scantily furnished tails, or perpendicular 

 tails are very objectionable. Sometimes pinched tails are spread by 

 the quill in each main tail feather being broken by bending between 

 the first finger and the thumb. These breaks are easily felt by 

 running the finger along the quill, and a bird faked in this way 

 should be disqualified by the judge. 



Some Wyandotte breeders have been at a loss to understand how 

 to solve the tail question. Disregarding the standard requirement 

 of the quills of main tail feathers to be carried at fifty degrees above 

 the horizontal, in a fear of high tails, they have bred low tails and 

 then pulled out the main tail feathers several weeks before the show 

 and exhibited their birds with two to four weeks' growth of main 

 tail. Whenever a judge sees a young main tail covered with fully 

 grown, mature sickles and coverts, he should penalize the specimen. 

 The way to meet the tail issue in the Wyandotte is to breed the 

 fifty degree standard tail, and then birds whose feather growth is 

 fairly and properly matured may be put down in the best shows 

 and their shape outline will meet the criticisms of competent judges. 



It is desirable to pay some attention to the length and breadth of 

 the feathers in the tail coverts of the females and observe to what 

 extent they lay up on the main tail feathers, for in mating females 

 of good development in this respect, you get away from a sharp 

 juncture at base of tail (where it joins with the back) in the male 

 offspring. The two top main tail feathers in females are often 

 plucked, as they are usually longer and more pointed than the rest 

 of the feathers in this section; also they are often found to be 

 off-color to some extent in the parti-colored varieties. The plucking 

 of these two feathers results in a smoother formed tail in a female 

 and is considered legitimate fitting. 



Neck: The neck joins the back in the fore part, as the tail joins 



