BARKED PLYMOUTH ROCKS 105 



this family were ^li^linguish^.'d in their J;iy by what was then, in com- 

 parison witii the common rnn of Barred Kocks, distinct, strong color. 

 He continued to breed the stock until 1870, when the flock passed into 

 the hands of 1. K. I'eleh of Natick, Mass. l'"clch furnished eight of 

 tile best bird.', to H. B. May, also of Natick. While Pitman was one 

 of the most experienced and capaL)le fanciers of his generation, the 

 kite Messrs. I'clch and May were among the most prominent judges 

 and breeders of their day; the result was that the Essex strain con- 

 tinued in good hands, and became the most popular family of the 

 breed. 



May was an experimenter. He tried to clear up the color of his 

 birds by infusing" Light Brahma blood, and later employed Game 

 blood to add constitutional vigor and robustness. He also continued 

 that close obser\atioii and study that had brought success to Pitman 

 as a breeder of barred color; and May is credited with first hitting 

 upon the double mating system of breeding Barred Plymouth Rocks 

 for color. 



The Essex strain was the leader for more than ten years, its fame 

 spread, its best specimens were the leading winners, and other fami- 

 lies were founded upon it. 



Other principal stocks in the early history of the breed were 

 the flock which Spaulding continued to breed; the flock of L'pbam 

 which held the foremost position in the varict)- prior to the forging 

 ahead of Pitman, and later of Fclch, May. and the flock of A. H. 

 Drake of Stoughton, Mass., known as the Drake strain. While the 

 L'pham. Pitman and May stock trace in a direct line to the Spauld- 

 ing source, the Drake strain is of difterent origin. 



Drake was engaged in the business of picking up fowls about the 

 country for market purposes. One day, as he traveled along the 

 countryside, a flock of hawk-colored fowls caught his eye. He pur- 

 chased them for market purposes but upon getting them home, he 

 was so attracted to them that he decided not to butcher them. This 

 was about 1867. 



The Drake strain, like Spaulding's. "was founded in part on hawk- 

 colored barn-door fowls." Dark Brahma blood was used by Drake 

 to reinforce the size of his birds, and his stock carried more or less 

 of the Brahma type and his birds are recorded as having been some- 

 what "darker in color." 



Drake went into the poultr}' huckstering business as a result of 

 poor health, and later he was dependent for a livelihood upon tlie 

 sale of his Plymouth Rocks. Necessarily he had to be a good breeder. 

 He improved his stock by the Dark Brahma cross and then bj' a Pit- 

 man male. He produced several birds of outstanding quality, and 

 upon his death several of his best specimens went into the hands of 

 the late Philander \A'illiams of Taunton. Mass.. who was contem- 

 poraneous with Felch and May as one of America's greatest breeders. 



Felch claims to have used some of the Drake blood between 1876 



