212 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



lesser sickles and coverts. This wealth of tail plumage, each feather 

 bright greenish-black, is a glorious feature of the Partridge. 



Bringing out the variety. The Partridge Wyandotte is not the 

 product of a novice. It is the worthy development of master breed- 

 ers. Today the making of new varieties is "largely in the hands of 

 beginners who are incompetent to breed and who therefore experi- 

 ment, while the great breeders are improvers of the existing breeds 

 and varieties; but when this writer was a boy, a large number of the 

 truly great breeders were devoting themselves to the making of 

 varieties. The Partridge Wyandotte came from the hands of such men. 

 Pride, sentiment and idealism entered into their work. 



They did not do their work because they thought that large profits 

 would accrue to them as payment for their labors. It was a labor 

 of love, and the reward has been one of joy in having brought forth 

 something new, something better, something more beautiful. 



These old breeders were more interested in writing Standards 

 of Perfection than they were in selling chickens, more interested in 

 defining their ideals and reaching out for these ideals than in making 

 money. As early as 1896, two of the originators of Partridge Wyan- 

 dottes — Joseph McKeen, of Omro, Wisconsin, and E. O. Thiem, of 

 Vail, Iowa — prepared a standard for the variety, and it was published 

 as a leading feature in the April, 1896, issue of American Poultry 

 Journal. It was, however, stated in this article that neither of them 

 offered stock or eggs for sale that spring. 



What was one of their Partridge Wyandotte cockerels worth? 

 What was eight pounds of bone, muscle and feathers worth? Ah, 

 the bird you inquire about represents more than what you see in 

 him. While an artist could now at his leisure make a photograph 

 of the bird, the time was when a camera with the fastest shutter could 

 not have recorded it, could not have caught a glimpse of it, for only 

 the breeder-artist saw the vision of its ideal form and finished coat 

 of plumage. The breeder who produced that specimen has waited 

 with patience for the seasons to come, and from year to year has 

 carried the germ of life through the stage of embryonic development, 

 through the period of actual growth, and then the cycle has turned 

 on to the season of reproduction and his ambition has been kindled 

 anew, and he has mated with thought and judgment and tried again. 

 There have been matings that have failed, parasites that have threat- 

 ened to arrest the growth of young stock; the elements of heat and 

 rain through which the chicks have been successfully carried, and 

 in winter the boots have sometimes seemed heavy and the snow 

 seemed extra deep. 



If you were to buy this bird, the product of this breeder's labor — 

 this finished, living, breathing picture that stands within his yards 

 — the price that you could pay would be in terms of dollars. The 

 price the breeder paid was in terms of life. He cannot surrender 



