208 



THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



reddish-bay eyes. They argued that all Wyandottes should have the 

 same breed characteristics, and they pointed to the popularity of the 

 variety in England to justify their action. The change was made. The 

 International Black Wyandotte club of America protested. They said 

 that they could not change their birds in one year or even two genera- 

 tions, and they asked for five years in which to make the change from 

 nearly black eyes to red eyes, and from black shanks with bottoms of 

 feet yellow to yellow or dusky yellow shanks. No such time allowance 

 was granted and the breeders of the fowl gave up and passed out. 



To make "confusion worse confounded" the 1915 Standard called for 

 yellow shanks, and by an oversight there was left in the text the old 

 disqualification of "shanks other than black shading into yellow or dusky 

 yellow." There were no yellow shanked birds shown to disqualify, how- 

 ever, for breeders gave up in discouragement. 



Early history. It was the attempt of the early breeders to produce 

 yellow shanks that retarded the progress of Black Wyandottes in the 

 beginning. After much effort and considerable loss of time, it was found 

 to be impractical to attempt the production of sound black under color 



and the same yellow shanks 

 and beaks carried by the other 

 varieties of Wyandottes. The 

 breed, therefore, first went in 

 the Standard with dark shanks. 

 Wyandottes that were essen- 

 tially black be--jan to appear as 

 early as the White Wyandottes. 

 They came from the original 

 Silver stock. Black chicks ap- 

 peared in the yards of F. J. 

 Marshall and F. M. Clemens, of 

 Ohio, in 1885, Mr. Marshall hav- 

 ing a black pullet and a cockerel 

 that was black in all save wing' 

 primaries, and Mr. Clemens 

 having two black pullets and a 

 cockerel that was black in all 

 save neck hackle. Both breed- 

 ers took advantage of these 

 birds and bred them in 1886. 



Marshall in 1886 again bred 

 the mother of his black sports 

 and produced five more black 

 pullets. He never had another 

 mating of Silver Wyandottes to 

 produce black chicks. But with 

 the stock produced in 1885-86, 



First Prize Black Wyandotte Cock, Cleve- 

 land (Ohio) Poultry Show, January, 19 U. 

 Bred by Howard Grant, of Michigan. 



