66 



THE CAMPINES 



most Campine males possessed ungainly looking head 

 gear and oftentimes the comb was turned and drooping 

 to one side. 



The breeding of color is always a more or less com- 

 plex problem and it is a difficult matter to advise the 

 beginner just how to mate with assurance of absolute 

 success in his breeding operations. It is generally con 

 ceded that a good percentage of show specimens may be 

 produced from one mating, but we have personal knowl- 

 edge that a few breeders are practicing cockerel and 

 pullet mating to produce their winners. Personally we 

 do not believe this is absolutely necessary if the correct 

 color is established for botFi male and female. The ideal 

 female should be a specimen possessing nature's own 

 breed marks of a corresponding character and these 

 should be in harmony with that of the male. To follow 

 this law of breeding is to eliminate double mating. Vary- 

 ing ideals are simply the change of fashions created to 

 • satisfy the fads of the fancier. 



There are cases on record in the history of breedin.g- 

 pure bred poultry where fanciers have created ideals, 

 either in the male or female, which necessitated double 

 mating in order to produce specimens possessing mark- 

 ings and color of the accepted or adopted fashion. We 

 hope that Campine breeders will avoid this condition in 

 the future as their Standard now appears to be perfectly 

 fitting to the breeding of show specimens from single 

 matings. 



Authorities Difler On Color 



Despite this fact we have recently noticed that some 

 authorities differ in their opinion of what the ideal Cam- 

 pine color should be. On page 16 of the English Cam- 

 pine Club year book for 1914, F. L. Piatt writes, "My 

 criticism on the heavy barred male is this: A female with 

 three black bars is not as pretty as one with four black 

 bars. Why not set as the Standard the male that will 

 breed the beautiful females? The male with the wid":, 

 black bars would never be picked as a pullet breeder. I 

 think that the width of the black bar can be overdone 

 and believe the highest art in breeding will produce a 

 barring that looks refined, not coarse." 



In the Poultry Manual, published by Rev. T. W. 

 Sturges, Vice-President of the Poultry Club of England, 

 we find the following: 



HINTS ON MATING— The breed is now in the 

 making, so far as the perfection of its marking is con- 

 cerned. It has so many wants. Among these are: (1) 

 Better combs; (2) white lobes in the cockerel; (3) def- 

 inite barring on the cock's saddle-hackle — this latter ac- 

 companied with a developed tail — and (4) brilliant sheen. 

 When birds approaching the Standard are found there 

 will be little difficulty in mating, since both sexes can 

 be bred from one mating. Until then the best possible 

 must be chosen, taking care not to mate birds together 

 which both contain the same defect. 



The Rev. E. L. Jones, one of the most successful 

 breeders, wrote in his Monthly Hints; "The question is 

 how to breed this bird, and it is a question I have been 

 trying to solve for the past four years. First of all see 

 that your breeders have good points, and that their tails 

 are as free as possible from 'greyness' or mossiness. Then 

 select the best marked of your cockerels — dark in color 

 and with rich sheen or lustre. Select from the hens or 

 pullets those which have broad, black bars — too broad for 

 exhibition^and see to it that they are sound in fluff, 

 dark grey in color. Let them, too, be as rich as possible 



in sheen. Reject as breeders all that are not sound in 

 eyes, as a wrong eye is very persistent-dominant, as the 

 Mendelists say. Also see that the earlobe of the cock- 

 erel is white; it is almost universally so in pullets. In 

 all your breeders always examine the individual feathers 

 and reject any which do not show a white bar (faint it 

 often is) at the end. Rely upon your hens for size, shape 

 and. alertness of carriage." 



It will be noticed that Mr. Piatt suggests breeding 

 for a feather with more black and white bars than the 

 average feather now possesses, while the Rev. E. Lewis 

 Jones advises breeders to select specimens having a wide 

 black bar and states that the females may be those which 

 are too wide for exhibition purposes. 



We heartily agree with the Rev. Jones in this respect, 

 for should we aim to produce a specimen with an in- 

 creased number of bars on the feather it naturally fol- 

 lows that the feather having only a certain amount of 

 surface on which to have these bars, that the bars 

 would have to be crowded together to allow for the ad- 

 ditional bars suggested by Mr. Piatt. The results, would 

 be that the black bar which is now about four times the 

 width of the white bar would be narrowed down, giving 

 only a small narrow space on which to display that beau- 

 tiful green lustre, one of the chief points of beauty of 

 the Campine. Barred Plymouth Rocks have many hars 

 on the feather, but on such feathers it is almost im- 

 possible to show lustre of any amount. 



The female back feather shown on plate (page 65) 

 in connection with this article was sent to us by Mr. 

 Jacobus and we believe this is the best specimen feather 

 we have ever seen. It will be noticed, that this feather 

 has only three black bars and three white bars not count- 

 ing the slight white tip. To add another black and an- 

 other white bar to this feather would be to decrease the 

 width of each, resulting in even finer white bar that we 

 now have, if the comparative ratio of 4 to 1 is to re- 

 main. We have selected this wing and back feather as 

 the object of this discussion for the reason that all other 

 feathers vary in length and have more or less bars upon 

 them, depending entirely upon the section of body or 

 back from which they are taken. Wing and back feath- 

 ers possess the fewest bars and are the shortest feathers 

 upon the bird, therefore, it seems this would be the point ' 

 of reckoning in determining how many bars a feather 

 should have. 



All other feathers from back and saddle which are 

 longer than the shortest back or wing feathers have as 

 many bars upon them as would be possible, depending 

 entirely upon the length of feather and how many times 

 the average width of black and white bars upon the short- 

 est feathers, would go into the length of the longer 

 , feathers. 



One of the most prevalent defects in color of Silver 

 Campine males is, that the white bar is too indistinct, too 

 fine and narrow. It' js not that the black bar is too 

 broad, but that the white bar is not heavy enough to 

 continue across the feather in a clean cut bar without 

 breaking at the quill. Such is the case in most finely 

 barred male saddles, and the sooner we produce an open 

 bar which is clear and distinct, the more beautiful will be 

 the breed. 



Mr. Piatt states that a female with three black bars 

 is not as pretty as one with four black bars and con- 

 tinues to say, "Why not set as Standard the male that 

 will breed the beautiful females?" 



I have just previously pointed ou{ that to increase the 



