214 THE AMERICAN BREEDS OF POULTRY 



came interested and worked with Mr. Brackenbury for several years. 



In 1894, Ezra Cornell, of Ithaca, New York, became interested in 

 the new Partridge Wyandotte, and in 1895 purchased Mr. Sarr's 

 birds and began to breed in co-operation with Mr. Brackenbury. 

 Mr. Cornell had heard of Mr. Brackenbury in a roundabout way. In 

 1893 Brackenbury had sent some buff feathers laced with blue to 

 Franklane L. Sewell, the poultry artist. Mr. Sewell carried these 

 feathers with him to the New York show and there showed them 

 to Mr. Cornell, who was then breeding Buff Leghorns; and Mr. 

 Cornell became so interested in the buff feathers laced with blue 

 that at the close of the show he made a trip especially to see Mr. 

 Brackenbury's buff-laced Wyandottes, or Auburnettes. The birds 

 themselves, however, proved unattractive, but the sight of the new 

 penciled Wyandottes on which Mr. Brackenbury was working repaid 

 Mr. Cornell for the journey. 



Joseph McKeen was the originator of the Golden Wyandotte, and 

 he was familiar with both the Golden Wyandotte and the Partridge 

 Cochin. He and E. O. Thiem experimented with a Golden Wyandotte- 

 Partridge Cochin cross in 188S for the purpose of improving the 

 Golden Laced Wyandotte. It was not until 1889 that McKeen and 

 Thiem made their first matings with a definite view of producing in 

 a Wyandotte the penciling of a Partridge Cochin. 



Thiem mated a Winnebago hen, which he had secured from Mr. 

 McKeen, and a Cornish Indian game hen and a Golden Wyandotte hen 

 to a Partridge Cochin cock. He also mated Partridge Cochin hens to a 

 Golden Wyandotte male. McKeen made two matings of Partridge 

 Cochin hens, using a Winnebago male to head one pen and a Golden 

 Wyandotte male to head the other. These two breeders then ex- 

 changed birds and were associated together in the production of the 

 variety. 



Ezra Cornell always gave the greatest credit to Brackenbury, say- 

 ing that he believed that Thiem took the cue from Brackenbury, and 

 added that Thiem had secured a little of Brackenbury's surplus stock, 

 some of which he turned over to McKeen. Cornell then summed 

 up his argument by saying: "One thing certain is that there has not 

 been a strain of Golden Penciled Wyandottes started in America that 

 has hot gone to George H. Brackenbury for help, whereas there is 

 not a drop of blood from any other strain in the Brackenbury or, as 

 it is known, the Cornell-Brackenbury strain." 



Purity, however, is not in itself a guarantee of excellence, and 

 the western strain of McKeen and Thiem had the advantage of 

 better shape and richer coloring on the males, and the birds, due to 

 the Cornish cross that Thiem had made, were solid, compact and 

 well fleshed. The Brackenbury birds were looser feathered and more 

 accurately penciled in the females, but rather inclined to a pre- 

 ponderance of red in the males. 



